Local News in Brief : Fountain Valley : Price Club Lured From Santa Ana to Southpark

Southpark, a 140-acre Fountain Valley development whose opponents forced a city election two months ago, will include a Price Club store, city officials said Thursday.

Mayor George Scott said the San Diego-based Price Co. has agreed to relocate one of its discount membership stores from neighboring Santa Ana to Southpark, where 30 acres will be turned into a retail shopping center. Fountain Valley Associates will develop the remaining 110 acres into a business park for research and development uses.

A complicated land sale agreement by the city, the developer and George Sakioka--of the longtime farming family that owns the 140-acre strawberry field--now is in escrow, Scott said. The financing plan, as well as more space for parking, were among the key lures for Price Club, city officials have said.

The boon for Fountain Valley, Scott said, will be about $1.5 million in annual sales tax revenue.

Zoning changes that allowed the Southpark project were overwhelmingly approved by voters in a February special election. Those who launched the drive to get the issue on the ballot had argued that the project would create traffic congestion in the area.

The Price Co. balked then because of the political fracas and withdrew its plans to abandon its hugely successful Santa Ana store and move about a mile away to Fountain Valley. After the election, however, Fountain Valley officials immediately began trying to woo the Price Co. back to town, Scott said.

The Southpark development will be bounded by Slater and Talbert avenues, Euclid Street and the Santa Ana River and falls within an existing redevelopment area.