Hermosa Orders 3rd Election on Proposed Beachfront Hotel

On June 11, voters will be asked once again--the third time in 19 months--to vote on whether to allow construction of a beachfront hotel on city-owned land.

After weathering emotional public debate lasting three hours, the City Council on Tuesday voted 3 to 2 to allow developers Greenwood-Langlois to return to the voters with a proposal for a hotel that is smaller than the one rejected in a special election last December.

The new proposal for the former Biltmore hotel site has been redesigned with underground parking and four stories, one floor less than the project that was rejected by just 19 votes three months ago.

The developers have agreed to pay the entire cost of the election and contribute $20,000 annually to a college scholarship fund and $10,000 annually to city sports programs during the 55-year lease.

DeBellis ‘Swing Vote’

Councilman Tony DeBellis, calling himself the “swing vote,” said that some public testimony had degenerated into name calling at the developer and had indicated a lack of trust in the council.

“I came to this meeting tonight prepared to hold this over,” DeBellis said. “But it’s very obvious to me after tonight’s discussion that the only thing we can do is put it before the people.”

Councilmen Gary Brutsch and Jack Wood voted with DeBellis.

Mayor George Barks and Councilman John Cioffi voted against the special election, cautioning against making last-minute changes on documents that had not reached the council’s hands until Tuesday’s meeting.

“I just don’t feel in good conscience that I can put something on the ballot that I feel is ill-defined at this point,” Cioffi said before the vote.

After months of workshops and negotiating sessions with city officials, developer Joseph Langlois said he is ready for another election.

Langlois ‘Out of Limbo’

“I’m glad to be out of this limbo,” he said after the vote. “I’m ready to get out there and show the people this (architectural) model because I think they’re going to like it.”

He said the proposed 250-room hotel incorporates viewing terraces and patio dining to give the project an airy, open feeling. A half-acre park proposed for the southeast corner of the property would also add open space.

Under the revised agreement, the city would agree to issue approximately $17 million in tax-free certificates to finance construction of 7,900 square feet of conference facilities and 100 public parking spaces, which would be built along with 320 hotel spaces in a single-level subterranean garage.

The city would also be required to devote the transient occupancy tax (bed tax) generated by the hotel and its share of parking revenues to help pay off an estimated $350,000 annual debt service.

According to Langlois, the city should begin receiving revenue above the $350,000 by the eighth year of operation.

Lease Payments o City

Lease payments for the site and sales tax would begin accruing to the city when the project is completed in about two years.

Six people spoke in favor of the project and five against it. Some residents questioned City Atty. James Lough’s ruling that a petition being circulated by resident Roger Creighton--calling for sale of the property under the zoning that would reap the highest financial reward--was illegal.

Lough said that he would normally refrain from judging a petition’s legal merit but did so at the request of the council, which had been considering placing that proposal on the June ballot in addition to the Greenwood-Langlois project. Other residents, including former City Councilwoman Edie Webber, argued that the last election was too close to rule out a hotel project on the site.

“I think it’s only fair that the 2,000 people who voted for the hotel, including myself, have another bite at the apple,” Webber said.