Restrictions on Carnival Attractions to Be Negotiated : Pierce College Offers a Home in a Cornfield to Deposed Fair

Operators of the homeless San Fernando Valley Fair have been offered use of a 30-acre cornfield at Pierce College to stage this summer’s five-day event, officials said Tuesday.

If the Woodland Hills site works out, the fair could return annually to the western edge of the 400-acre community college campus, school officials said.

Fair organizers are scheduled to meet with college administrators next Tuesday to negotiate the relocation, which would move the agricultural-themed event from Devonshire Downs in Northridge for the first time in its history.

The fair was first held in 1946 but was suspended in 1959 as the Valley first became urbanized. It was revived in 1975 and has grown in popularity in recent years.

Fair organizers have been looking for a new home for nearly two years. The event was ousted from Devonshire Downs after last summer to make way for the expansion of California State University, Northridge.

“I’m quite sure we’re going to be at Pierce,” said Dallas Boardman, president of the board of directors of the 51st District Agricultural Assn., which oversees the fair. “I think it’s a good place and would make a good marriage downstream.”

David Wolf, president of Pierce College, was likewise optimistic.

Temporary Sites Considered

“Everything I’ve heard so far looks pretty good,” Wolf said. “It could be the first step toward a permanent arrangement.”

The organizers also have looked into possible temporary sites at Hansen Dam Park and at Encino’s Sepulveda Basin.

Sal Buccieri, head of the fair board’s real estate committee, said his panel is keeping its options open in case a lease cannot be negotiated with the college.

“We need two or three months to get ready, and the fair is July 16,” Buccieri said. “But people approaching us about concessions want to know.”

The college, meanwhile, is seeking concessions of a different sort. Wolf said he is demanding that the fair not intrude on nearby homeowners in long-established single-family neighborhoods north and south of the proposed fairgrounds.

The fair would be held on a field south of Victory Boulevard, east of De Soto Avenue and north of a cross-campus roadway.

Such restrictions could curtail amusement rides and a midway, Wolf said.

“We said no carnival, and I know they want that,” Wolf said. “We aren’t anxious to have Ferris wheels and win-the-teddy-bear game things. I’ve stipulated that.”

Wolf said the feasibility of a scaled-down midway may be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. “We’ll listen. But we don’t want any full-bore bells-and-whistles kind of thing.”

Boardman said he is confident that organizers can “dial down” the noise level of the fair to satisfy the college.

“Ours would be well-supervised,” he said. Anyway, “a carnival is not that important. We have a good following now. Our attendance has increased from 23,000 a few years ago to 80,000 last year.”

College officials said any lease arrangement with the fair would have to be approved by the Los Angeles Community College District’s Board of Trustees. It is also probable that it would undergo scrutiny from campus and community groups.

Homeowners Group Not Informed

Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, said Tuesday that his group had not been informed of the proposal. He said residents feel strongly that “Pierce College is a school and should not be cut up into a commercial situation . . . it’s an irretrievable resource.”

Wayne Taylor, president of the Pierce College Alumni Assn., said his group will oppose any development that displaces teaching facilities at the college. “The bottom line is education,” Taylor said.

According to Boardman, however, the agricultural association is prepared to contribute to educational facilities at the college if the fair remains there.

He said his group has $3 million in the bank from the sale several years ago of a small Northridge parcel. It has also been promised up to $10 million in state funds for development of a permanent site, he said.

College officials said that money might help pay for a proposed equestrian center earmarked for development next year on the west side of the campus. The first phase of the project is to include a new animal science building, a polo field, horse-show areas and a stable.

Those facilities could be used by exhibitors and fair-goers during the summer when classes are not held, Wolf said.

Staging this year’s fair would “give us plenty of time to plan and some hands-on experience” at working together, he said.

Mostly, however, the college’s offer would “help the fair get through a difficult time,” Wolf said.

Boardman agreed: “Time’s run out,” he said. “You don’t put on a fair overnight.”