Orange Council May Seek Park Acreage by Eminent Domain

City officials in Orange are poised to condemn 15 acres for a sorely needed sports park, charging that the owner reneged on a 16-year promise to provide the land for a park and then sold it for double the amount the city had offered.

The City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to take the land under eminent domain and proceed with plans to build five lighted soccer fields, a community gymnasium, a community center and a tot lot.

The recent $1.1-million sale, which surprised city officials, could affect the condemnation price, City Atty. David DeBerry said.

City officials accused landowner Beazer Homes, a national home-builder based in Atlanta, of refusing to negotiate in good faith for the property. The land was zoned for a park in 1984 as part of a deal that allowed Beazer to develop its adjacent Rock Creek Ranch townhome community on 85 acres, city officials said.

The company even promoted the park in its sales brochures to prospective homeowners.

“What they did stinks,” Councilman Mike Alvarez, a Realtor, said Monday. “They knew the city wanted that property.”

Gerald A. Gates, Beazer’s Orange County president, wasn’t available for comment.

Councilman Dan Slater, also a Realtor, said the city desperately needs more open space and playing fields and “can’t afford to surrender any more potential parkland to development.”

“Obviously, Beazer had their own interests in mind and were looking for top dollar for the property,” he said.

The dispute over the land reflects a vexing community problem, particularly for older Orange County cities: More parks and open areas are needed, but enough space isn’t available.

Orange has 137 acres of developed parks, far short of the 375 acres preferred for a city of its size, according to city planners. The city has 12 soccer fields and one football field but should have 81 soccer fields and 10 football fields.

Younger cities typically require developers to dedicate park areas and open space as a condition to getting projects approved.

The city resorted to the zoning arrangement in the mid-1980s because it did not have the cash at the time--or since--to buy the former sand and gravel pit outright. But last year, the city ended up with $2 million from the county for park development.

In March, City Manager James L. Rudat offered Beazer $300,000 for the land, according to a letter he sent to Beazer. When Beazer balked at the offer, the city upped the price to $540,000.

By then, Beazer was in escrow to sell the property to Shepherd Academies, a group that operates the Oakridge private elementary school in Tustin. Orange allows schools to be built on land zoned for recreation as long as the owners obtain a special permit.

Last month, Beazer completed the sale by loaning the school $879,000 toward the $1.1-million purchase price. The company had estimated the property was worth $2 million.

Businessman George Adams, who is working to obtain the special permit on behalf of the school, faulted city officials for letting the land sit idle for years and then trying to force an unrealistically low sales price.

“If the city wants it, they’re going to have to pay us what it’s worth,” said Adams, whose two children attend an academy school. “We feel it’s worth much more than we paid for it.”

The school has been looking for a new location since it lost its lease at a surplus elementary school in Tustin.

“We are totally amazed to be in this controversy with the city,” Oakridge Principal Fred Burry said. “We are dumbfounded. We put the money up in good faith.

Burry said the school would consider a joint use of the property with the city or would consider selling it and looking for an alternative site. City officials don’t want to share the property.

The city estimates that the total cost to acquire land and develop the sports park would be $6.1 million.

Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz said the recent sale of the park property was a surprise.

Coontz, Alvarez and Slater said Adams has urged them to allow the school to build on the site. Adams, a politically connected businessman, co-owns a restaurant in Orange and also has a restaurant in Anaheim Hills, where he has hosted fund-raisers for Coontz. He also owns a steel salvaging company in Anaheim.

But Coontz said the council is united in its desire to condemn the property and develop it as a park.

“It’s been well-known that we were interested in it,” she said. “We need to pay for what it’s worth, and not more than that.”

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Promised Land

Orange city officials want to build a gymnasium, community building and five soccer fields on a 15-acre lot owned by a developer, which had agreed 16 years ago to zone the property for a park.