Regional Coalition Voices Support for Industry Football Stadium

A regional coalition is throwing its support behind Majestic Realty's plan for a Los Angeles football stadium in the City of Industry.

The Four Corners Coalition, made up of cities around the border of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, signed a letter of support for the Majestic project in late July, citing the economic benefits to the region.

In the letter of support, coalition Chair Gwenn Norton-Perry said that stadium project will generate over 18,000 jobs and "(generate) $762 million in annual economic output," and "over $21 million in fiscal benefits to the taxing authorities in the region."

Norton-Perry, who is a city council member in Chino Hills, said the group's support came after Majestic Realty Vice President John Semcken presented four studies at a meeting earlier this year, indicating the regional benefits of the stadium project in Industry.

"The project would benefit other ancillary businesses in the area," Norton-Perry said. "It would provide synergy in this area and the region."

The group also praised the project's location in comparison with a competing project planned for downtown Los Angeles. The letter states that the Industry project is closer to the "population center" of the region which "has dramatically shifted beyond downtown Los Angeles."

"The (Industry) location will help spread economic benefit throughout the four county region with Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties without posing any risk to local governments or taxpayers," the letter states.

In 2009, the city of Walnut conducted a study to opposed the stadium project, which stated that the economic assessments produced by City of Industry consultants did not take non-monetary costs of the project into consideration:

The Study should have further considered a more thorough discussion of the Project’s annual economic and construction-related impacts to sub-areas including the immediately adjacent cities (Walnut, Pomona, Diamond Bar and City of Los Angeles).

Norton-Perry said that the project is not at odds with the coalition's goal of addressing the region's transportation needs.

"If the stadium doesn't go in, then the big fix won't happen," Norton-Perry said. "They all rely on one another and you can't just focus on one microcosm of it."

The "Big Fix" would reorganize the 57/60 freeway interchange, which has a regional reputation for traffic congestion.

Last Tuesday, the city of Los Angeles and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) .

The project is positioned in direct competition to Roski's Industry plans, though Roski and Anschutz both have ties to existing downtown sports franchises, according to a 2010 report in the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Roski and Anschutz share stake in the Los Angeles Kings, which they purchased for $113 million in 1995, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

They also collaborated on downtown projects like the Staples Center and L.A. Live.

Proponents of the Industry project say the project is "shovel-ready" and awaiting only a team while the downtown project, which gained a $500 million corporate sponsorship from Farmers Insurance earlier this year, still needs an approved environmental impact report.

The coalition endorsing the Industry proposal is related to the separate Four Corners Transportation Coalition, chaired by Diamond Bar councilwoman Carol Herrera, which was formed in the 1990s to address problems related to the region's "overcrowded and congested traffic system."

Norton-Perry said that the coalition endorsing the Industry stadium proposal was formed just two years ago to allow cities that she said are on the fringes of their respective counties to collaborate and advocate for regional unity on issues unrelated to transportation, like .