STANTON : Group Won’t Have to Pay for Bus Turnout

The Planning Commission has ruled that the Anaheim Kingsmen drum and bugle corps will not be required to pay for a bus turnout on Beach Boulevard in order to move into Village Center.

Earlier this month the commission had ordered the Kingsmen or the shopping center owner to pay for construction of a new bus turnout as a condition of approval for a use permit that would allow the musical organization to move into a Village Center storefront space.

But after protests by the Kingsmen and the property owners, city planners reviewed the issue and determined that the turnout requirement constituted an unfair burden.

Still, some commissioners expressed uneasiness about removing the turnout requirement since the city has agreed to try to get one installed as part of the county “super-streets” traffic improvement project on Beach Boulevard.

“If not now, when?” said Commissioner Tom Frazier, who with Commissioner Luis Arreola abstained from voting on the issue. “It’s a traffic issue. The Kingsmen are going to generate about 200 more cars.”

Currently headquartered on Katella Avenue, the Anaheim Kingsmen plan to move to Village Center at Beach and Garden Grove Boulevards to provide a larger performance space for the bugle corps and color guards. The 30-year-old nonprofit group plans to have practices three evenings a week in the new hall, according to officials.

The Kingsmen also plan to hold fund-raising bingo games two evenings a week, with up to 299 people expected to attend. On weekends, the hall would be used for other assemblies, performances and meetings, according to planning documents.

Kingsmen director Richard Oliverio contended that his group could not afford the bus turnout. Meanwhile, a representative of Shapell Industries, the center owner, further argued that saddling the existing shopping center with responsibility for building the bus turnout was unfair--particularly since the city had not determined how much the turnout would cost or where it would be located.