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Newshound (Newshound)
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 07, 2004 - 7:25 am: | |
Sept. 7-Marinapark project battle goes public,Daily Pilot
The rhetoric is escalating between proponents of the development and the opponents, who prefer a park.
Deirdre Newman
Daily Pilot
NEWPORT BEACH — With less than two months before the November vote on the controversial Marinapark hotel project, the battle has turned to the court of public opinion.
While the campaign literature hasn't hit the mailboxes yet, the rhetoric is escalating between proponents of the development and opponents, who prefer a park on the property.
Stephen Sutherland, who designed the project, calls the idea of a park "a scheme" and compared it to the Great Park proposed by opponents of an airport for the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
"They're not being honest," Sutherland said. "They're using the same trick [Irvine Mayor Larry] Agran and others used to kill the El Toro [airport] plan. The last thing peninsula residents want is this 'Great Park' with a soccer field and a boat launch ramp."
The opposition, led by a group called Protect our Parks, says a park belongs on the property.
"Our campaign efforts to save Marinapark are not driven by money or self-interest," group leader Tom Billings said. "We are all volunteers with the same visceral passion that harbor-front parkland — any park for that matter — must be preserved for the public's use. The thought of losing a park to commercial development is like losing a piece of one's soul. We just can't let that happen."
The city-owned, harbor-front property where the hotel would be located, on the Balboa Peninsula between the American Legion and 18th Street, now accommodates a mobile home park, four tennis courts, a basketball half-court, a community center and 21 parking spaces.
In addition to the proposed 110-room, luxury resort, the project also includes a slew of community improvements, including relocating and reconstructing the community center, the nearby Girl Scout house, the tennis courts, a children's playground, the public parking area and a harborside walkway.
The proposed park would include an aquatic center, a tot lot, the Girl Scout house, a soccer and T-ball field, the tennis courts, the basketball half-court, plus 900 feet of beach, swimming and small-boat rowing and sailing.
An open or shut case
Public access is one of the issues that defines the battle between the proposed hotel and a park.
The hotel will offer some public access. The tennis courts there now will remain; the hotel's restaurant and bar will be open to the public; and three paths will be created from the street to the beach.
The concrete walk along the beach will be reconfigured to give it a more romantic feel, and the hedges will be taken out to offer more view and to let people walk straight down to the beach, Sutherland said. All the grounds of the hotel will be open to the public.
The hotel will also be accessible to the public by boat, with guest docks for those visiting the hotel for a few hours. The area on the nearby beach, where the city offers sailing lessons for kids, will also remain.
"Residents can come down, play tennis for free, while their kids or grandkids are taking sailing lessons, and when they're done, they can go to the restaurant or the bar or the beach and order lunch (without alcohol)," Sutherland said. "It's increasing the aquatic use of the beach."
Another contentious issue is parking. Sutherland is touting his parking plan as having 100 more parking spaces than what's required. He accuses opponents of having no plan for parking.
"If they're putting a boat storage facility equivalent to the Newport Aquatic Center, soccer fields, a concert area, and a picnic area, their parking structure must be four to five stories," Sutherland said. "I bet they don't even know what their parking requirement is."
Billings said the group will consult a park planner to find out how many parking spaces are required based on the size of the park.
WALKING THE TIDELANDS
The issue of tidelands still has not been resolved.
The state lands commission's legal counsel has told the city it believes a sizable portion of the land below the trailer park is tidelands — land the public must be able to get to that can only be developed with uses that serve visitors, Asst. City Manager Dave Kiff said.
Greenlight slow-growth spokesman Phil Arst, who opposes Marinapark, claims that long-term timeshares are not permitted on tidelands because they would be considered residences, not serving visitors.
He added that the city should resolve the tidelands issue before the election.
When the city selected Sutherland's proposal during the bidding process, it was chosen from a range of choices that were suitable uses of tidelands, Kiff said.
It will be up to the commission's attorneys to decide if the timeshares included in the hotel qualify as ownership over the tidelands, Kiff said.
DEFINING THE BENEFITS
One of the arguments against the project so far is the lack of a lease. Opponents have argued that it's difficult to assess the merits of a project without the details of a lease.
City Manager Homer Bludau said former City Atty. Bob Burnham, who is now working as a consultant, is working on the lease, and it should be ready in about two weeks.
"There will be plenty of time to get that information out to the public before the election," Bludau said. "Certainly, it's the intent of the city to reach a lease agreement with Sutherland and let the public know what the terms of that lease are."
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