CITY TO WORK TO ANNEX SIX FLAGS PARK OFFICIALS TO TOUT FINANCIAL BENEFITS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- With the future of Six Flags California's Magic Mountain uncertain, city officials will pursue partnering with the theme park's owners to keep the operation humming.

Armed with an array of financial incentives they say beat those offered by the county -- on whose turf the park lies -- Santa Clarita officials are poised to travel to New York to begin talks with owner Six Flags Corp. that would broach annexation to the city.

``They are the No. 1 employer for the valley and we have a large incentive to work with them and make them as profitable as they can be,'' said Assistant City Manager Ken Striplin. ``We will be contacting them this week.''

New York-based Six Flags announced a couple of weeks ago that Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor are among the six properties it might sell to trim a $2.1 billion debt.

On Tuesday, the City Council told City Manager Ken Pulskamp to contact Six Flags' CEO and begin talks about the park, which is in unincorporated Los Angeles County just outside city limits. The city benefits from spillover cash spent for food, lodging, gas and retail sales.

Six Flags spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg said Thursday she could not comment on the matter.

``We certainly try and be an active and positive presence in the community and have for many years,'' she said, adding that no timeline has been set for the park's future. ``We're not even sure we're definitely going to sell it.''

She said the company will explore strategic options for several parks as part of an overall plan to deliver profits to shareholders, but declined to elaborate.

Electricity for the 17 rollercoasters and heating Hurricane Harbor's pools costs plenty. In talks with Six Flags, the city will tout the absence of a utility user tax -- versus the county's 5 percent user tax -- which could save the company hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of dollars -- a year, Striplin said. And unlike the county, the city does not charge an admission tax.

The city's pitch will include touting the ability to get bucks back from a coveted state program it hopes to join, which rewards businesses for hiring eligible employees and buying certain machinery. Magic Mountain would need to lie within city limits to participate in that program.

City officials will broach annexing the 250-acre property, which Striplin says would not necessarily be more complex than the city's other 26 annexations.

``If it meets the requirements of an annexation, it would be nothing but a simple annexation,'' said Sandor Winger, executive officer of the county Local Agency Formation Commission, which rules on municipal boundary changes.

County officials would not be passive onlookers if overtures are made toward what is believed to be one of the top 10 sales tax generators in the unincorporated area.

``Magic Mountain is a very important economic generator in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' said Paul Novak, a planning deputy for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the park. ``It employs approximately 4,000 people and the supervisor is committed to working with Six Flags or any future operator to maintain this economic asset for the valley.''

Antonovich looks forward to a ``constructive dialogue'' with Six Flags to see what the county can do to keep Magic Mountain as a theme park, Novak said.

Newhall Land and Farming Co., which built the amusement park that has passed through several hands, owns surrounding acreage. Office buildings are springing up at the base of the park, and the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch development is planned west of the city and sprawling to the Ventura County line.

``Our company's philosophy is that we will process our plans based upon the community in which our property is located,'' said Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. ``The (Interstate) 5 Freeway is generally a boundary between the city and the county. So the property that we own surrounding Magic Mountain is within the county territory, and we have been working on plans regarding that property.''

Goldberg would not say whether other park operators had inquired about the property, but Cedar Fair L.P., which owns Knott's Berry Farm, Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, Soak City water parks in San Diego and Palm Springs and other large parks across the country, says it will not be calling.

``At this point in time, with the acquisition of the Paramount parks, our focus is on integrating these five properties into our current portfolio of assets and we're not interested in additional acquisitions at this time,'' said Stacy Frole, Cedar Fair's spokeswoman. The company purchased five Paramount parks from CBS Corp. for about $1.24 billion on June 30. Cedar Fair acquired Knott's in 1997. Cedar Fair and Six Flags are the two largest public owners and operators of regional amusement parks, Frole said.

A Universal Studios Hollywood spokesman declined comment on the matter and Universal Orlando officials did not return phone calls. A county address will not stop city officials from paying the theme park's owners a call.

``Magic Mountain is a landmark in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' Striplin said of its 35-year tenure. ``It's (future) is certainly an issue of tremendous significance for us.''

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An aerial view of Six Flags California's Magic Mountain, whic h may be sold along with other amusement parks to help pay the parent company's debt, shows the looping trails of the park's many roller coasters.

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