SunCal Sues Owner of Disputed 26-acre Parcel

In the on-going battle between SunCal and Disney over the former's proposal to rezone a portion of the Anaheim Resort Area to allow a 1500-unit residential housing development, OC Blog readers are well aware that Anaheim Council Members Lorri Galloway, Bob Hernandez, and Lucille Kring have sided with SunCal.

While most readers also know that Democrat Galloway's motivation is the 15% of proposed units set aside for lower income workers, ostensibly those working in the Resort, Republican Council Members Kring and Hernandez have hung their support on "property rights" for Dudley Franks, who owns the land in question, and SunCal, which has an option to purchase the land if they can get the land entitled for the residential development. Members of SunCal's political team have picked up the "property rights" mantra, arguing vociferously on this blog and in other forums that the issue is "all about property rights." In pursuing this argument, they have figuratively trotted out Dudley Franks as the victim of Disney aggression.

But what happens to the property rights argument if the property owner and the developer part ways? We will find out soon enough, as a lawsuit filed last week pits SunCal against Franks. A copy of that lawsuit can be viewed here: Download sccv_frankfamilypartnershipetal_complaint.pdf

Reading the lawsuit, we find that SunCal has had an option on the property since April of 2005, and that after five extensions Dudley Franks, the property owner and the person who actually has "property rights," chose not to grant SunCal another extension when the current option expired on October 1, 2007.

Thus, SunCal has no property rights and no longer even has an option to purchase the land in question. If property rights are your cause, they now reside solely with Dudley Franks.

It is rumored that Franks has since started negotiations with another developer whose project would be compatible with the existing Resort Zoning that allows hotels and retail usage.

Clearly, the Franks family is the holder of property rights here, and they have tired of waiting for SunCal in its fight against intense community opposition to its proposed zoning-change scheme. While SunCal argues in its lawsuit that Franks was obligated to extend the option again to December 21, any rational person should understand that an extension to December would be pointless, since the matter would not be resolved until votes on the SOAR initiative and referendum next June. This smacks of a desperation move by SunCal.

The big question is: what now for those defenders of property rights, Lucille Kring and Bob Hernandez? Will they abandon their stated principles and advance a new argument for SunCal, or continue to defend property rights and, thus, Dudley Franks?

We should find out soon enough if cries of "property rights, property rights!" were a hollow argument for Kring and Hernandez, or a true philosophical belief.

Comments

[Westsider]

Great way to put it in perspective Biff!

The Galloway connection is the part that baffles me the most. She hasn't put her neck on the line once for "affordable housing" for the 9,000+ units that have been approved a few blocks from the SunCal site in the Platinum Triangle during Galloway's term in office. But suddenly she's all about "affordable housing" when SunCal comes knocking and wants to rezone the Resort District for residential use. Was she napping for the last two years when her local government approved 9,000+ units of housing a few blocks away without any provisions that one single unit had to be "affordable housing"???

The Lorri Galloway connection to all this is the most troubling. There's just something there that makes you wonder what's really going on behind closed doors. It's very suspicious.

[pinkperegrine]

Funny how none of you is curious why a Planning Commission would try to over-rule the clearly expressed will of the council majority?

The answer is the Planning Commission is stacked with Mayor Pringle loyalists. Mystery solved!

[redperegrine]

Pink, can't you find a different bird?

[Westsider]

That's fairly obvious pink. And I don't think any of those Planning Commission folks have ever shied away from the fact that they align themselves with the elected mayor.

What is unexplained however, and very odd, is why Ms. Galloway hasn't said a peep about "affordable housing" for any of the 9,000+ housing units approved on her watch a few blocks away in the Platinum Triangle. Why is it okay to not create affordable housing on that side of the freeway? That's the part I don't get.

[David Michael]

Now we have this news story regarding SunCal...

http://www.ocregister.com/news/suncal-city-disney-1916094-project-residential

>>Developer SunCal will no longer pay the legal fees tied to a Disney lawsuit against its proposed housing project -- another sign that the developer's plans may be falling apart.

Last week, SunCal sent a letter to the city, stating it was stopping payments to defend the city against the lawsuit, which Disney filed to protest the city's documents tied to SunCal's planned homes.<<

And the last sentence of the article....

>>Skip Miller, SunCal's attorney, said the developer will continue to pursue the project.<<

Yes, sure they will pursue the project, even though they skipped making a required payment to keep the option to buy the land, and now the land will probably be sold to another company, they pulled the request from the City Council to try and have the AVE initative placed directly on the ballot, and has claimed they will gather signatures, even though no sort of required paperwork has been submitted for approval (to my knowledge), and now SunCal is no longer helping the City Council in the lawsuit that basically placed into question how the City Council approved the initial Zoning change to the land, and related things such as an enviromental report.

Yep, SunCal is moving forward.... Wait, IMHO, they are pulling out instead....

[redperegrine]

Pinkie, you said:

"Maybe we can boot Zenger off the County planning commission and just have the citizens of the 4th District vote in his stead."

Heh-heh. Well, maybe maybe you can figure out a way. Good luck! But how are 400,000 people going to cast a vote? Wouldn't that be ballot box zoning? Pinkie you really are not too bright.