BREAKING NEWS: Costa Mesa officials to meet with Gov. Schwarzenegger on OC fairgrounds

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley are scheduled to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento Monday to discuss canceling the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds, Foley said Wednesday.

The meeting will take place at the governor’s office. The council members and City Manager Allan Roeder will sit down with Schwarzenegger from 11:30 to noon, Foley said. Since three of the City Council’s five members will be meeting with the governor, it will officially be noticed as a special closed session city council meeting, Foley said.

“I’m encouraged that after months of requesting to meet, the governor finally recognizes that Costa Mesans count,” Foley said. “Our hope is that he takes our concerns seriously and recognizes the dramatic negative impacts the sale will have on families and small businesses.”

The fairgrounds was put up for sale in October as part of a plan to sell high-valued state properties to help narrow the state’s budget deficit. Although Schwarzenegger proposed several high-valued properties for sale, the 150-acre property in Costa Mesa was the only one put on the market after the state Assembly voted on it in July.

Bids on the fairgrounds are due to the state on Jan. 8 and a floor auction is scheduled on Jan. 14. State officials hope to fetch between $90 million to $180 million for the property.

Meanwhile, Assembly Bill 1590 is due to be heard by the state Assembly’s Business and Professions Committee on Jan. 12. The bill, which was introduced by Assemblyman Jose Solorio, aims to rescind the July Assembly bill that authorized the fairgrounds’ sale.

Foley is scheduled to testify before the committee in favor of AB1590.

Although the city and the county are opposed to the sale, they are due to place a joint bid for the purchase, in case the governor does not stop the sale.

The Orange County Fair and Events Center Foundation, which was formed by members from the Orange County fair board, also intends to bid for the fairgrounds and run it as a nonprofit organization, much like the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona.

There will also be at least one bid from the private sector. Richard Julian, one of two partners at Lake Forest-based Advanced Real Estate Services, is placing a bid for the fairgrounds, said Patty Hoffman, director of asset operations at Julian’s company. Julian is out of the country and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

He and his partner, Frank Holloway, are in the business of buying apartments and refurbishing them for rent. Julian is behind the controversial Aerie project in Corona del Mar, which was approved by the Newport Beach City Council in a 4-2 vote in July. The project, which is going before the California Coastal Commission in February, will replace a 60-year-old, 14-unit apartment building with an eight-unit luxury condominium complex with six levels. The luxury condominium would take up to 61,709-square-feet at Bayside Place and Carnation Avenue.

An association called Save Irreplaceable Landforms Coalition and two native American tribes sued Newport Beach, after the city approved the project, claiming it would violate the California Environmental Quality Act.

“We haven’t sold anything,” Hoffman said. “We don’t usually sell, we usually keep things forever.”