City to buy Little League ball fields

Huntington Beach is going to buy six Little League fields in the

hopes of saving them from development, the City Council announced

Tuesday.

Negotiations to save the ball fields had collapsed after the City

Council voted to send a proposed compromise deal back to the

bargaining table. The property’s owner, the Fountain Valley School

District, responded by ending the negotiations and retracting an

offer to give the city 5.2 acres in exchange for help developing the

rest of the site.

The City Council is now prepared to purchase about six acres of

parkland at the Wardlow school site, home to the Huntington Valley

Little League, as well as another two acres from the Lamb school

site. Earlier this year, the Fountain Valley School District

unanimously voted to declare both sites surplus land and eventually

sell the properties into residential development. The two parks are

believed to be worth about $25 million a piece. Fountain Valley

Assistant Supt. of Business Barry Blade has said the money would be

invested and the school district would collect on the interest.

Blade was unavailable for comment on the city’s plans to purchase

the property.

City Councilman Don Hansen said the city would take advantage of a

state law to purchase the fields at a significant discount.

Under the Naylor Act, the city can purchase 30% of the surplus

property at about 25% of its market value. Hansen estimates the city

will pay about $3.5 million to purchase the eight acres by taking out

a loan from the city’s park acquisition fund. The terms of that loan

are unclear, but at a recent town hall meeting, Community Services

Director Jim Engle told dozens of nearby homeowners the park

acquisition fund only had a balance of about $2 million.

It also remains unclear what type of support the purchase plan has

with the rest of the City Council. Tuesday’s decision was made during

closed session and City Attorney Jennifer McGrath would not release

the vote tally on the deal.

“I don’t have any obligation to report that out,” she said.

Hansen said the city would recover at least half of the loan back

in construction fees when the remaining portion of the land was

developed.

“Basically we’re getting eight acres of land for around $1

million,” he said. “That’s one of the best deals in town.”

The city’s purchase proposal allows the school district only to

build about 90 homes on both sites -- the originally compromise deal

called for 120.

Land activist Alan Gandall of SaveOurField.org called the land

purchase a victory, adding that it might compel Fountain Valley to

return to the negotiations.

“I think the school district was taking a gamble and the city

showed its hand,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they came back

to the table.”