Fair board calls noise agreement unfair

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The city may be helping the former owners of the Pacific

Amphitheatre stifle their competition, a fairgrounds official wrote in a

letter to the city manager last week.

Becky Bailey-Findley, general manager of the Orange County Fair and

Exposition Center, said the Nederlander Organization -- which

books concerts throughout Southern California and leases the Greek

Theater in Los Angeles -- armed the city with $100,000 to enforce strict

noise restrictions at the Costa Mesa venue. The restrictions will

effectively prohibit large-scale concerts at the amphitheater, boosting

Nederlander’s own business, she said.

But City Councilman Joe Erickson said the deal between the city and

Nederlander was fair for everyone.

“I’m disappointed in [the fair’s] response,” he said. “The fair board was

included in the discussions every step of the way.”

Bailey-Findley said City Manager Allan L. Roeder, who was unavailable for

comment Wednesday, also assured her the city wouldn’t compromise its

fairness. But she said the fair board would soon meet with its lawyers,

whom she said still haven’t reviewed the agreement, to discuss the

matter.

Bailey-Findley’s letter was sent the same day the fairgrounds settled a

long-running dispute with two residents, Laurie Lusk and Jeanne Brown,

who live near the venue and had complained about excessive concert noise.

Under the settlement, the city is responsible for enforcing the noise

restrictions until 2023.

“This is round two,” said Richard L. Spix, the residents’ attorney.

Nederlander’s attorney, Adam Burke, said the company only agreed to pay

the city to enforce noise restrictions so that banging drums and thumping

bass would no longer rattle Lusk’s and Brown’s windows -- not to corner

the concert market.

“We had issues we wanted to resolve with them,” Burke said. “It shouldn’t

be an issue. Costa Mesa is a public body and has the power to enforce the

regulations.”

Nederlander sold the venue to the fairgrounds in 1993. In 1995, the fair

board sued Nederlander for fraud, alleging the concert promoter sold the

venue knowing strict noise laws would render it virtually useless. Board

members said Nederlander did so to block competition. The dispute was

settled for a reported $16 million.

On Wednesday, Bailey-Findley said Nederlander may once again be entering

into anti-competitive territory.

But Spix, who sent a letter of rebuttal to the fair board and the city

Monday, said the allegation is absurd. “I think she jumped the gun,” he

said, referring to Bailey-Findley.

Discussion on the ultimate fate of the amphitheater will begin next

month, when the fair board begins the two-year process of replanning the

area.

Bailey-Findley said options for the problem-plagued venue range anywhere

from building a roof for it to tearing it down.