Anaheim Says It’s Ready, Awaiting New Adventure

Despite early and dire predictions by some Anaheim residents that a $1.4-billion Disneyland expansion would trigger a nightmare of traffic, noise, crowded schools and crime, city officials insist that a decade’s worth of planning and upgrading has eliminated the possibility of such havoc.

With Disney’s new California Adventure theme park, scheduled to open early next year, aiming to attract 7 million new visitors a year, Anaheim officials point proudly to their early planning for the deluge of new tourists. Preparations include $510 million worth of upgrades to city streets and utilities, the hiring of an additional 60 police officers and a new fire station and ladder truck.

“When you have 10 years to plan . . . you cover all your bases,” said city spokesman Brett Colson.

But as the opening nears, longtime critics of the expansion say they’re extremely skeptical of such promises. Others say the expansion’s ultimate impact on area schools remains a wild card.

The questions take on more importance with Friday’s announcement by Disney that it intends to build a third Anaheim theme park on Harbor Boulevard just across the street from California Adventure.

“I think people are leery about a lot of things,” said Curtis Stricker, a Disneyland neighbor and longtime opponent of the expansion. “We did the best job we could to try to get them to address our concerns, and I still don’t think many of them were mitigated.”

Officials insist that instead of headaches, Anaheim will see the creation of 6,000 to 9,000 jobs and $6 million in annual tax revenues.

Nevertheless, its impact on city services is significant. Electrical demand will be more than the amount of power required to run 38,000 homes, according to environmental impact reports, and will make Disney the consumer of more than 10% of all electricity handled by the city-operated utility. Yet officials say that extensive planning and upgrades ensure the power will be provided without so much as a lightbulb’s flicker or an increase in rates.

Previous school officials and surrounding cities have voiced fears that an influx of new employees--or “cast” as Disney calls them--would flood schools, clog streets and trigger a mini crime wave.

City officials say those worries are baseless, pointing to stacks of studies arguing that few families will actually move to Anaheim to work at the resort.

Environmental impact reports submitted to the city by Disney state that the expansion could generate a demand for 428 housing units within Anaheim, and contribute 122 students to the Anaheim Unified High School District over the next 10 years and 141 pupils to city elementary schools during the same time period.

School officials, however, say they’re not sure what will happen.

“We’re in constant communication with the city and Disney, but it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen,” said Janice Billings, AUHSD superintendent. “We probably will see an increase in enrollment, but how much and how immediate won’t be clear until it happens.”

In neighboring cities like Garden Grove, city and school officials concede that they too are in the uncomfortable position of having to wait and see just how the attraction will affect them. While they anticipate some benefits from a boost in tourism, officials say they can only guess how the opening will add to traffic, school enrollment, housing and demand for fire and police services.

One Garden Grove official said he sought answers to those questions from Disney and Anaheim years ago, but that he remains disappointed by a lack of answers.

“A few years ago we had struggled with Disney and Anaheim over some things we identified as negative impacts on Garden Grove,” said Community Development Director Matthew Fertal. “We raised these issues during the worst of the recession though, and there was a lot of pressure on us not to stall the progress of Disneyland, which was seen as offering a large infusion of dollars to the state.”

Which is not to say that Garden Grove doesn’t stand to benefit from the opening. Roughly four years ago, when the city caught wind of changes to Anaheim’s Resort Area, city officials and business owners initiated $250 million in improvements along Harbor Boulevard. Today six new hotels are in various stages of construction or completion and city officials expect their rooms will be filled as a result of the Disneyland expansion.

“Having a project of this magnitude at our doorstep is certainly going to make people aware of Garden Grove,” Fertal said. “We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope some of the most horrible what-ifs don’t occur.”

Perhaps the only group that has seen a clear impact from the expansion are city employees--particularly those involved in permitting and inspecting new construction.

Last week, Anaheim’s 680 unionized employees began new contract negotiations, and a spokeswoman for the group said Disney-related work demands would be a key theme of the negotiations.

“There certainly has been an increased workload,” said Lee Ann Cameron, president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn. “We’re optimistic the city realizes that and we’re hoping the city is going to show its appreciation.”

* DANA PARSONS

Shouldn’t the city see how Disney’s second park works out before it considers yet another? B3