Construction is scheduled for completion in the late summer or early fall 2003 on the $15 million, 30,000-square-foot facility, designed by architect Michael Maltzan.
In 1997, the city leased the 3.4-acre parcel of parkland, including the Fannie Morrison Horticultural Center, to Kidspace for $1 a year for 50 years. The City Council approved the arrangement without any objections.
That set the stage for a legal battle that only ended last year.
In approving the lease, the City Council said the museum's activities qualified as "park and recreation" use as defined by the City Charter, according to court papers. On Oct. 23, 2000, a city zoning hearing officer granted the conditional use permit.
The Arroyo Seco Foundation challenged the deal.
They argued the city was violating its own law by leasing the parkland without putting it to the voters in a special election. The foundation sued in November in 2000 and asked the court to rescind the lease and conditional use permit.
The foundation claimed the city "will suffer irreparable harm in its community because of the significant loss of usable open space in the Arroyo Seco, which is available to the public at no charge."
City Attorney Michele Bagneris said the city's position was that it was legally entitled to lease the site to Kidspace.
Ed Garlock, president of the Kidspace board of directors and an attorney, said Sunday the city and Kidspace won the lawsuit at trial and the foundation initially planned to appeal the decision.
Then, around the time foundation attorneys were scheduled to file some motions, the foundation abandoned the appeal and the appellate court dismissed the lawsuit last October, Garlock said.
-- Emanuel Parker can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4475, or by e-mail at emanuel.parkersgvn.com.