Disneyland Competitor Wins Round From City
Tweaking the nose of the city’s most famous and powerful mouse, the Anaheim Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously endorsed plans for the $500-million Pointe Anaheim retail and hotel complex, near Disneyland, that Disney officials had bitterly opposed.
“This fits the vision of Anaheim,” the commission’s chairman, Steve Bristol, said near the end of the seven-hour meeting at which dozens of speakers on each side voiced their opinions.
Commissioner Phyllis Boydstun agreed: “This is something that’s badly needed.”
The Pointe Anaheim project has been ground zero for one of the fiercest development wars in this city’s history.
The company behind the project, Pointe Anaheim LLC, wants to build the 29-acre entertainment-oriented complex across the street from Disneyland. It would contain 100 retail shops, including a huge FAO Schwarz toy store, plus restaurants, nightclubs, three theaters and three hotels.
Residents and city officials have said the project would be good for tourism and provide much-needed amenities for residents.
Disney officials, on the other hand, have argued that Pointe Anaheim is tacky, woefully short on parking and likely to flood key intersections with traffic at rush hour. Also, signs would far exceed the city’s 9-foot-high limit for the area.
Because some consider the project unsightly, George Mihlsten, a Walt Disney Co. lawyer, said Wednesday that approval of the project would set a bad precedent. “You couldn’t deny future applications [that are] visually intrusive,” he said.
The proposed project also would compete directly with Disney’s planned retail center--called Downtown Disney--which is part of the company’s resort expansion at Disneyland.
The center is scheduled to open in 2001 along with the company’s second Anaheim theme park, Disney’s California Adventure, which also will contain a 750-room luxury hotel.
On Wednesday, though, Disney officials seemed to soften the tone of their earlier staunch opposition to the competing developer’s plans.
“We weren’t here to deliver a punch today,” Disney spokesman Timur Galen said after the meeting. “We were here to express the same concerns we have expressed over the weeks.”
In approving the conditional-use permit, the city’s Planning Commission assured foes that the project would conform to Anaheim’s ongoing mission to eliminate visual blight. Specifically, commissioners said, signs and icons in the proposed project will not be ostentatious.
“We’re one community, and we’re all working for the same goals,” Boydstun said.
The project still must be approved by the Anaheim City Council, which is expected to consider it late next month. If all goes well, construction could begin early next year and could be completed by late 2001, said Robert H. Shelton, Pointe Anaheim’s project manager.
The 7-0 vote, Shelton said, was a powerful endorsement.
“Hopefully they [Disney] will get the message that the community is behind this,” he said. “They’re a big part of the community and they should get on board.”
Times staff writer E. Scott Reckard contributed to this report.
