Council Still Listening to Stadium Proposals
One last chance for a new baseball stadium at Saddleback College arose this week when the City Council voted to listen to offers from South Orange County Community College District officials for two more weeks.
City officials say they will wash their hands of the stadium proposal if they fail to receive an acceptable offer by the end of the two-week deadline.
“This is not a reopening of negotiations,” City Manager Dan Joseph said. “We’re not going back to the table. We’re just saying that if you want to do this deal, here’s the opportunity.”
For almost two years, the city has worked with college officials to build a permanent baseball stadium at Saddleback for the Mission Viejo Vigilantes minor-league franchise.
Last year, the city downsized the project from $6 million to $3.5 million. With the downscaling, the city took back some promised amenities, district officials said. Negotiations bogged down in March when the district demanded that many of the amenities, including construction of an on-campus road to reduce traffic, be replaced.
After an impasse, the city terminated negotiations last month, throwing doubt into the future of the Vigilantes in Mission Viejo.
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