Anaheim Now Seeks Investors for Sportstown

Now that plans for a huge entertainment, retail and sports complex surrounding Anaheim Stadium have cleared a major obstacle, city officials are turning their attention to a key issue: finding private investors for the project.

As expected, the Planning Commission on Thursday approved the environmental study of Sportstown Anaheim. The 5-0 decision will be final unless it is appealed within 22 days.

The environmental impact report, required by state law for major projects, attempts to gauge the effect Sportstown would have on traffic, parking, air quality, employment, school enrollment and other matters.

Officials believe the recent scaling back of the project has alleviated much of the negative effects the project is expected to generate. The scope of Sportstown was reduced from 80 acres of new development to 45 acres as a result of negotiations with the Walt Disney Co., which recently purchased a controlling interest in the California Angels and had expressed concern that the project would interfere with renovation plans for the Big A.

The project includes 750,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space, a 500-room hotel, 250,000 square feet of office space and a 150,000-square-foot exhibition center. The city eliminated plans for a second hotel and a youth sports facility, and reduced office space by 70%.

Although city officials have not said how much it would cost, they have vowed not to use taxpayer funds.

City Manager James D. Ruth said Thursday that officials “haven’t done much” yet to formally lure investors, other than responding to some query letters from interested businesses. He did not elaborate.

“We’re waiting to get through the [environmental impact report] process,” Ruth said, “then we’ll go out and solicit proposals from the private sector.”

Ruth said city staff will now begin developing an official “request for proposals” that should be ready for council consideration by early July. It is not yet known when construction would begin or which part of the complex would be built first.

In approving the project, commissioners said the benefits outweigh any concerns about negative effects.

Commissioner Robert Henninger said Sportstown “will employ a lot of people, and employment is an important issue for the citizens of Anaheim.”

Commissioner Robert Messe said the complex “will be good for the city of Anaheim and good for the schools too.”

That latter point was questioned at the hearing by attorney Dean Derleth, who represents the Anaheim Union High School District and the Anaheim City School District.

School officials have raised concerns that enrollment would swell unbearably--without funds for new or renovated buildings--as a result of the estimated 2,474 jobs the complex is expected to provide.

Derleth said the school boards have not decided whether to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision, but he suggested that any conflicts could be worked out without that legal step. “These problems are best solved early,” he said, “and at the staff level.”

In addition to the effect Sportstown would have on schools, the environmental study found that the project would degrade air quality in the stadium area and produce 1,219 tons of solid waste each year, a potential problem because of the county’s limited landfill capacity.

The existing air quality already exceeds state and federal standards for smog because of traffic on the Orange and Santa Ana freeways and local streets, including Katella and Orangewood avenues and State College Boulevard.

* Times staff writer Greg Hernandez contributed to this article.