Disney, Neighbors’ Bargaining Paying Off : * $3-Billion Theme Park Project for Anaheim May Avoid the Delays of a Court Battle

Neighbors who felt the Walt Disney Co. was giving them short shrift in the planned $3-billion expansion of Disneyland appear to be winning enough concessions from the entertainment giant to make it likely lawsuits challenging the expansion will be dropped. That’s good news.

Long, drawn-out trials over the proposed new theme park, hotels, amphitheater and huge parking garages would have helped neither side. If it does commit to the project, called Westcot, the company understandably wants to get started without facing legal hurdles; neighbors also want to be spared major legal expenses and the uncertainty of a verdict.

The possibility still exists that the tentative agreements can come undone, and one lawsuit is still pending, but from all accounts negotiations to avoid the courtroom are progressing.

Although the company needed crucial approval from the city of Anaheim for Westcot, the project will be more than just a private-public arrangement; it involves the whole community. The homeowners, hoteliers and shopkeepers near the amusement park deserved to be spared undue hardship.

Westcot also got some good news from Washington, when conferees in the House and Senate approved $15.5 million for the proposed $223-million parking structure and transportation center in Anaheim that will also serve as a Westcot parking lot. The facility will benefit both Disney and the county’s mass transit system.

Disney has a reputation as a tough bargainer, and its initial “wish list” of concessions from the government and park neighbors was lengthy. The company already has been forced to modify some of its plans and demands. The jury is still out on how much the city will pay for its controversial share of the project, and it needs to drive its own hard bargain. But given the project’s size, and today’s litigious society, the planning fortunately seems to be going relatively well.