Council OKs Agreements on Arena Proposal

Acting in place of a Planning Commission disqualified because of potential conflicts of interest, a panel of Los Angeles City Council members on Wednesday approved a series of technical agreements for the proposed downtown hockey and basketball arena.

But committee chairman Hal Bernson warned that his support was simply to enable the project to proceed on schedule, and that the substantive vote would come next month before the full council.

“Whatever is done today is amendable, approvable or deniable by the full council,” he said before the unanimous vote certifying an environmental impact report and approving a development agreement and conditional-use permit for the project.

The proposal calls for the city to issue $70 million in bonds to help buy land for the arena. The bonds would be paid back over 25 years with proceeds from the venue.