They Stayed the Course to Save the Course : Land use: Cypress citizens group savors sweet victory after long, bitter fight with City Hall and a powerful corporation as new golf facility opens.

CYPRESS — Nobody paid much attention Thursday when the Cypress Golf Course and Country Club opened for business.

Only a handful of golfers and some ducks wandered by to christen the sloping greens and pristine fairways. Gone were all signs of the legal wrangling, bitter election battles and closed-door deals that took place over nearly five years.

But for some residents of this community of 45,000, Thursday was a day of triumph. To them, this golf course that lines a portion of Katella Avenue is much more than a slab of land with 18 holes in it. It is a piece of history, an example of the little guy taking on City Hall and big-money developers and emerging as the victor.

This week, finally, quietly, the fighting officially ended.

“We won because, like I always said, we were right,” said Jack Swank, who went to City Hall with a complaint that set the controversy in motion. “It was the most emotional, hard, fascinating four years I have ever spent. I knew we were going to beat them.”

The saga began in 1986 after Hollywood Park--the company that owned Los Alamitos Race Course and the golf course next to it--announced plans to close the golf course and turn it into Cypress Plaza, a massive business park, complete with towering office buildings, hotels and food courts.

Swank went to the council looking for help because Hollywood Park officials, in preparation for shutting down the golf course, had dried up the course’s lake, leaving 50 or so baby ducks stranded.

“I had accepted that they were going to close the course and rezone it,” Swank recalled. “My whole point was (that) those ducks (couldn’t) survive on dry land. It just seemed so minor to leave the lake.”

Swank said that when Hollywood Park officials refused to cooperate, battle lines were drawn. What began as an effort to save a few ducklings soon blossomed into a full-fledged war to save the golf course.

Swank solicited the help of Councilwoman Joyce C. Nicholson and Roger Geyer, then-president of the 600-member men’s golfing club. Concerned Citizens of Cypress for Greenbelt and Open Space was born.

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” said Geyer, a certified public accountant. “We didn’t even know what a referendum was.”

But the group learned quickly. What it lacked in expertise and money, it made up for in sheer numbers. Volunteers were always ready to lend a hand, to knock on doors or to get a signature on a petition. Money soon trickled in, allowing the group to hire attorneys.

But Hollywood Park would not be denied. It battled back, filing lawsuits and even hiring political consultants to help put the issue before voters.

Ultimately, the company ended up taking its plan and leaving town.

“It is always difficult to close down a golf course and develop it, no matter where it is,” said Harvey Englander, a political consultant who was hired by Hollywood Park to help defeat Concerned Citizens. “I went into it knowing it was an uphill battle.”

In November, 1986, Concerned Citizens won its first victory when it persuaded the council majority to reverse an earlier decision allowing the golf course to be developed. Next, the group set out to unseat the council members who had voted against it.

One of the casualties was Councilman Richard Partin.

“That was the No. 1 reason I lost the 1986 election,” said Partin, the city’s mayor who soundly lost his reelection bid then but regained a council seat in 1990. “It is a humbling effect. What I learned is that you really need to proceed with caution with controversial issues.”

Next, under the direction of Swank, an admitted gambler who spent 18 years doing promotions for daredevil showman Evel Knievel, Concerned Citizens put together Measure D, its most politically savvy and potent weapon. The measure, which was approved by city voters during a special election in November, 1987, prohibits any developer from receiving a zone change without approval by the voters. The golf course fell under that new law.

“What they did was very, very smart and a calculating move on their part. . . ,” Partin said. “They got it changed into an open space issue . . . they were able to pull in people who never played golf . . . they were able to draw in the multitudes.”

Hollywood Park officials did not sit still during the campaigning over Measure D. The company hired Englander to lead its campaign against the measure. Lawsuits were filed and depositions taken.

“They were calling us to downtown Los Angeles for these three-hour depositions,” Nicholson recalled.

One of the most memorable campaign tactics that year was the flyer war. One, an oversized red leaflet, read: “Meet Jack Swank, Gambler-Huckster and the man who wants you to pay for his golfing.”

After the passage of Measure D, Hollywood Park put up one more challenge. SDC Development Co., which had an option to buy the golf course from Hollywood Park, crafted a new, scaled-down business park proposal.

The SDC proposal was put before voters in February, 1989, but it, too, was rejected.

Later in 1989, Lloyd Arnold bought the race track and the golf course for $71 million. As part of the deal, he promised to keep the golf course land a golf course, which he subsequently sold to FJC U.S.A., the present owner.

“I didn’t think for a couple of years that we could win,” Swank said. “But then we had surveys, and the streets tell you. I knew we would win--there was no doubt.”

Today, a lot of the details over the battle to save the golf course are a little hazy, even for the key participants, who’d just as soon forget. In fact, when asked if she would do it all over again, Nicholson, who credits her City Council election in 1990 to her efforts to save the course, says no way.

“Definitely not,” she said. “Sometimes it was really scary going up against those people. But you just did it.”

Walking through the newly opened golf course Thursday, Nicholson, Geyer and Swank recalled the battle.

Swank, who successfully lobbied to get Cypress residents a discount at the newly opened golf course, admired its rolling links.

“I am personally quite proud of the golf course,” he said. “I feel (the new owners) are starting out with their prices too high, but all in all I think it turned out after all.”