Off-Road Park Plan a Poor Deal, State Analyst Says

SACRAMENTO —  Saying it was a “deficient” deal for the state, the nonpartisan legislative analyst on Wednesday urged lawmakers to reject a controversial proposal to pay Otay Mesa developer Roque de la Fuente $6.6 million to lease his land as an off-road vehicle park for 20 years.

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill criticized the San Diego deal as part of her wide-ranging recommendations on how to chip away at a projected $6-billion budget shortfall over the next two years.

Hill’s analyses of state budgets traditionally emphasize government efficiency and are issued each spring as part of the Capitol’s fiscal ritual. Her suggestions have become increasingly important to lawmakers as the state lurches from one budget crisis to another.

Aside from the off-road park, Hill also questioned several other San Diego County projects, including a proposal for camp sites at Silver Strand State Beach, a new access road to Cuyamaca College, and funding for Cal State University, San Marcos.

On Wednesday, Hill suggested one way of cutting costs would be to nix Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to build an off-road vehicle recreational park on 1,300 acres of land leased from De la Fuente along the border, south of the Richard J. Donovan Prison and east of Brown Field.

Hill’s analysis says the deal is “deficient in several significant respects” because it would pay De la Fuente $6.3 million up front, instead of over time as is normal on other state leases; would give the land and improvements to him at the end of the 20-year agreement, and because the state’s recreation department didn’t look hard enough for alternatives.

“Basically, it’s not a good position economically for the state,” she said Wednesday.

By scuttling the project, the analyst said, the state could save more than $8.5 million--$6.6 million for the lease payments and ranger salaries, as well as $1.9 million for constructing the dirt paths, bathrooms and entrance kiosks.

Hill’s suggestion, however, didn’t set well with those who have been advocating a nearby park for San Diego’s avid off-road vehicle users, who now must travel three hours to Ocotillo Wells to legally use their three-wheelers and motocross bikes.

Both Assemblywoman Carol Bentley (R-El Cajon) and lobbyist Robert Ham said Hill is misinformed about the proposal, which has twice been approved by the Legislature but vetoed by governors.

They said the deal with De la Fuente is a good one.

Rather than pay a market value of from $15 million to $50 million over the life of the lease, the Department of General Services recommended the $6.3-million “prepayment” as a way to save money, said Ham, Sacramento lobbyist for both De la Fuente and a coalition representing 50,000 California off-road vehicle owners.

Money to lease the land is coming from gas money and vehicle registration paid by off-road vehicle users, he added.

In addition, Ham and Bentley said the border site was chosen only after an exhaustive search of about 50 other San Diego County locations, where neighbors often objected to the potential noise of such a vehicle park.

“Every time we’ve tried to site a location, everybody’s fallen apart--except for this one,” said Bentley, the project’s biggest legislative supporter.

Wilson has publicly supported the park, but was forced to veto its funding last fall when it was procedurally linked with another bill he opposed that outlined millions of dollars in unrelated park projects. The governor revived the vehicle park this year by including new funding in his proposed budget.

Hill’s budget analysis also suggests other San Diego-area projects be questioned or put on a budget hit list.

It questions what it says appear to be “excessive” costs for two expenditures related to the new Cal State San Marcos campus--$2.2 million worth of preliminary plans for infrastructure and a second complex of academic buildings at the infant school. It also questions cost overruns of $2.8 million to equip the first academic complex at San Marcos.

Other projects singled out by Hill:

* A new $864,000 access road to Cuyamaca College. Since the project is an outgrowth of a related road project near the college, that amount should actually be paid by the county as “mitigation,” the analysis says.

* An already-approved $3.7-million project to build an 189-site campground at Silver Strand State Beach. Hill said this should be postponed because the discovery of a rare plant there now means the scope and plans for the project must be changed.