Are the fairgrounds at still
risk? YES! The City of Costa
Mesa is negotiating to buy the fairgrounds from the State, but the City has also agreed to
lease the land and all rights to a private company, Facilities Management
West.
Won’t the City of Costa Mesa still control the
property? No. Once a year, the
City should meet as the "Orange County Fairgrounds Authority" to make suggestions. FMW can
choose whether or not to respond,with no accountability
to the public.
Doesn’t the agreement require that existing uses be
maintained? Sort of. The agreement
requires that the annual fair, Centennial Farm, Youth Expo, equestrian uses, and a
marketplace/swap meet continue, butFMW will be able to
relocate and resize any of the required uses, so long as they’re
kept in some form at a minimal size. We may findcommunity activities
vastly scaled downin favor of more
profitable enterprises.
Won’t the Costa Mesa General Plan and Measure C
protect the fairgrounds? No. The general plan
lists what is allowed at the fairgrounds, but doesn’t require that any specific uses be
retained. Besides, under the agreement, FMW will be able tobuild and operate other
uses, not permitted under the general plan,if the Fairgrounds
Authority agrees.
Why should we be
concerned? The fairgrounds could be
turned into a convention center, a version of LA Live, or worse. One version of the FMW
agreement discussed revenue from a sign program "similar to LA Live". That’s no longer
specifically included, but it’s not prohibited either. Some lease documents refer to an
entity called "Orange County Fair Amphitheater Market and Expo, LLC", i.e.
OCFAME.
But isn’t it better to get more revenue, so the
City will have more money for essential services like police and fire
protection? No. The agreement caps
revenue to the City, so extra revenue from more intense uses will all go to FMW/OCFAME.
Besides, if they have events like the rave recently held at the LA Coliseum, costs for
emergency services could easily eat up any return to the City.
Why not just wait and see how it
goes? Costa Mesa is ready to
sign the final contracts andthe lease will last
fifty five years. Once the agreements
are finalized, we’re stuck for generations.
What can we
do? Contact the list below
and your elected, demand that they STOP THIS SALE, provide for openness and public
accountability in future governance of our fairgrounds. Keep the fairgrounds a property of
the people!
As the saying goes, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." We're being told that
the state is going to make $96 million, paid out over 40 years, by selling the Orange County
fairgrounds to the city of Costa Mesa. The city will make $228 million over the 55-year lease
of the fairgrounds. And a mysterious entity called "Facilities Management West" will bankroll
the whole thing at no cost to taxpayers.
However, even a cursory glance at the Memorandum of Understanding between Facilities Management
West and the city shows that FMW will have free rein over the fairgrounds for 55 years with no
real restrictions and, in fact, won't even be constrained by Measure C, the voter-approved
initiative in Costa Mesa designed to preserve the uses of the fairgrounds.
For example, the MOU requires that the annual fair, Centennial Farm,
Youth Expo, equestrian uses, and a marketplace/swap meet continue, but as stated in the
MOU, "FMW will have the right to resize and relocate within the property." Thus, if the
fair doesn't make enough money for its liking, FMW can "resize" it so that the Orange
County Fair consists of a clown and a bounce house. FMW would be legally within its rights
to "resize" the equestrian facility down to one horse in one stall if it wants.
On Monday, August 2, at 10 am the Fair Board will hold a special meeting to present a revenue
sharing proposal under which they would continue to operate the fairgrounds while providing a
revenue stream to the state. They proposed to do this by, among other things, developing
the corners of the fairgrounds for commercial use. They are claiming this would be
conducted pursuant to the 1989 Master Plan. However, no 1989 Master Plan was ever legally
adopted.
