San Clemente : Developer Says Resort Would Raise $1.5 Million

A resort marina at Cottons Point, also known as San Mateo Point, could attract as many as 500,000 people a year to San Clemente and could generate an estimated $1.5 million in property taxes, according to a feasibility report conducted by a Mission Viejo developer.

The report by Danko and Associates, which proposes to develop a multimillion-dollar resort marina complex, also estimated that the project would generate more than $1 million in building permits for the city and more than $2.5 million in tourist revenues, and that city taxes from a proposed resort hotel would exceed $360,000, said Dan Kargula, president of the development firm.

Kargula said his firm’s report was based on state and federal environmental impact reports of every marina built in California in the past 10 years. Danko and Associates will hire an outside firm to conduct a more detailed long-term economic study, he said.

Of the project’s design, he said, “Our hope is that this will be the only Spanish-motif-designed marina in the United States.”

Danko and Associates’ design, along with several others, will be presented to the City Council, Kargula said. Kargula could not say when the presentation would be made but said a final design from his firm would not be completed for another two months.

Plans for the marina include a harbor with as many as 3,000 boat slips, a center for the study of marine life and the ocean, a hotel, seven restaurants, retail shops and several yacht clubs.

Kargula also announced the appointment of economist Arthur Laffer as the first member of a newly formed marina advisory committee. Laffer, former chief economist for the federal Office of Management and Budget, is a member of President Reagan’s economic advisory board.