SURVEY URGED TO WEIGH PUBLIC OPINION ON ARENA PLAN.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

Convinced the public will join them in opposing a planned downtown sports and entertainment complex, Councilmen Joel Wachs and Nate Holden called Friday for the city to pay for a survey to gauge public opinion.

``For the last 10 months, the city has been negotiating behind closed doors to develop plans to have a taxpayer-financed sports arena,'' Wachs said at a City Hall news conference. ``The public has been excluded. Now it's time to find out how they feel.''

Wachs said his proposal to spend $30,000 on the survey, to be considered by the council Oct. 1, would serve to determine if there is wide public support for the proposal from Los Angeles Kings owners Ed Roski Jr. and Philip Anschutz to build the new facility on the site of part of the Convention Center.

As part of the proposal, in which details are being negotiated, the city would provide $60.5 million in benefits to the team owners, who would pay an estimated $240 million to build the facility.

Wachs has estimated the total city cost, however, could climb to $279 million when considering interest and other costs. Wachs developed his figures by including the interest on any general obligation bond over a 30-year period.

Supporters of the project have said Wachs has unfairly combined costs and reduced the potential $3 billion in benefits that could come if the arena were built.

Also, supporters say the sports and entertainment complex is essential in trying to build a hotel in the area to draw more conventions and tourists.

``If the survey finds the public supports this, then so be it,'' Wachs said. ``But I bet most people are against this.''

As evidence, Wachs cited the more than 500 calls he received this week on a telephone hotline in his office, with more than 97 percent of the callers voicing opposition to the plan.

However, he acknowledged the hotline response was not a scientific sampling and his announcement creating the hotline was encouraging people to oppose the facility.

Holden, who has opposed the project from the start, said he was pleased to support Wachs' proposal and predicted the facility would never be built in downtown Los Angeles.

``I guarantee there will be some kind of class action lawsuit that will stop this giveaway of city land,'' Holden said. ``And, I'll be part of it.''

Earlier this week, the City Council authorized a $150,000 contract with attorneys to negotiate with Roski and Anschutz on the project, which would create a 20,000-seat arena for the Kings and the Lakers.

Roski representatives said they also plan to use the facility for concerts and other events.

Under the plan, the city would be required to raze the North Hall of the Convention Center for the new facility as well as acquire land across the street for parking. That latter site also could be the location of a hotel at some time in the future.