By Howard Breuer LOS ANGELES -- A legal challenge to the relocation of Kidspace Museum to Brookside Park was denied Wednesday by a Superior Court judge who rejected arguments that the project was more commercial than recreational. Officials at Kidspace and Pasadena City Hall applauded the ruling, saying Judge Dzintra Janavs had removed a significant obstacle to the $15 million project. "We're just enormously gratified and we're moving at full speed ahead," said Edward Garlock, president of the Kidspace board of directors. He expects construction to begin later this year on the 30,000-square-foot project. Arroyo Seco Foundation board member Mark Frankel said the judge dealt a blow to parkland preservation, and the group will soon schedule a meeting to decide whether to appeal Janavs' decision. The museum -- at 390 S. El Molino Ave. -- plans to refurbish three buildings that comprised the 63-year-old Fannie E. Morrison Horticultural Center and build a two-story, 18,000-square-foot building. But the city's right to lease Arroyo Seco parkland to Kidspace for $1 a year for 50 years, granted without objection by the City Council in 1997, has been the subject of a lengthy dispute. The foundation objected on grounds that the city, according to its own laws, must get voter approval for the lease on the 3.4-acre parcel. In her four-page decision, Judge Janavs stopped short of addressing the election question, instead ruling that the foundation waited too long -- nearly three years -- to challenge the lease's approval. During that time, Janavs noted, Kidspace invested almost $1 million in architectural, engineering and other costs. City Attorney Michele Beal Bagneris said the judge made an important decision that reinforces the City Council's lease with Kidspace. "It was and remains our position that our city validly entered into the lease," Bagneris said. Janavs also rejected arguments that the lease violates a city charter ban on commercial and industrial uses of the Arroyo Seco. She wrote: "Kidspace Museum encompasses a wide variety of active recreational uses including organized activity; unorganized interaction with exhibits and the environment, both indoors and outdoors; and virtually all of the cultural activities contemplated by the City Charter, (including) plays, concerts, performances, exhibitions and so on." In a press release, the Arroyo Seco Foundation said the ruling highlights a need for the city to clarify in its charter vague terms such as "institutional use" and "commercial recreation." "The lack of definitions renders the laws enacted to protect Pasadena's parks and the Arroyo Seco ineffective," the foundation stated. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, who dislikes the lease approved by former council members, agreed the city should clarify and strengthen charter restrictions against development in city parks. "Since parkland is extremely limited, I believe our charter should preclude significant institutions being located on parkland," Bogaard said. -- Howard Breuer can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444, or by e-mail at howard.breuer@sgvn.com.
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