Anaheim : City Hires Attorney in Development Dispute

In an unusual move, city officials Tuesday agreed to join forces with developers and against a farming family by hiring the developers’ attorney as special counsel.

The attorney, Floyd A. Farano, will now represent both the developers and the city in a case that may ultimately lead to the city condemning part of a strawberry farm whose owners are at odds with the developers of a planned hotel-office complex.

By hiring Farano, the city is continuing its commitment last October to lend its power of condemnation--a move unprecedented in the city--to the developers who are planning a $200-million project in an area near the Anaheim Convention Center.

The developers, Hong Kong-based Alexandra Ltd. and Becker Ltd., want to build a 17-story hotel, two 14-story office complexes and two 180-unit condominium towers on 23.4 acres at 300 W. Katella Avenue. Before they can continue with the project, however, the developers must conform to a city requirement that they build two access roads to relieve the traffic that the development is expected to create.

The access roads would cut through a 58-acre farm at 1854 S. Harbor Blvd. owned by the brothers Hiroshi and Masao Fujishige and their respective families. The Fujishiges are willing to sell part of their land for the roads and their price is $1 million per acre. The developers offered about $30,000 per acre.

“Efforts are still ongoing” between the two parties, but no agreement on the price has been reached, attorney Thomas G. Kieviet, Farano’s partner, said Tuesday.

If the two sides continue to dispute the price, the issue could prompt the city to condemn the property.

Tuesday’s agreement to hire Farano as special counsel does not constitute agreement to condemn the property, City Atty. Jack White said, but it sets up a mechanism as to how the costs will be shared should the city follow through on the condemnation.