O.C. Fair Board OKs resolution to sell fairgrounds property

Two months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed liquidating state properties to raise cash to balance the state budget, one facility is taking the governor up on his idea: The Orange County Fair Board late this afternoon approved a resolution supporting the sale of the property.

The resolution specifies that the land must remain a fairgrounds and event center.

 “We felt that if the state is intent on putting that land up for sale  . . .  then we want to identify” a way to protect the fair, board Chairwoman Julie Vandermost said. “We don’t want to see any kind of situation where the fair might not survive. . . . That would be unacceptable.”

The property could be sold to a nonprofit group, the county or to a private company that would adhere to the land-use designation.

Some fair board members said they were looking at forming their own nonprofit to buy the property, and there has been informal discussion among Orange County supervisors about the county purchasing the land and having a nonprofit group run it -- if the price was right, since the county is having its own budget problems.

-- Tony Barboza