Some Residents Miffed : Council Panel Approves Mission Beach Renovation

To its critics, the plan to renovate Mission Beach Park would sell out a historical site and public park for a Seaport Village-by-the-beach, complete with miniature lagoons, tile-roofed shops and more traffic in a community already fighting gridlock.

Naturally, developers Paul Thoryk, Steve Davis and Graham MacHutchin see it differently.

Their oceanfront project would “bring back the festive quality” to the site of the old Belmont amusement park, Thoryk told a San Diego City Council committee Wednesday.

Instead of two drab buildings and a defunct roller coaster left over from the 1925 amusement park, Thoryk and his partners promise fountains, meandering walks, restaurants, a neighborhood market, shops, more than 175 new parking places--and, they hope, a rehabilitated roller coaster that they might help a private group maintain.

Their project would drive “the undesirables” out of the area, they said. And, once they demolished the “boring” old roller rink building and the outer walls of The Plunge building, they would showcase the “jewel” inside--the cavernous, Olympic-sized public pool, an oasis of aquamarine, now hidden behind faded stucco walls.

The council’s Public Services and Safety Committee heard from the developers and their foes Wednesday and then, in a rapid 4-0 vote, recommended that the full council approve Thoryk/MacHutchin’s plan.

Council members Mike Gotch, William Jones, Uvaldo Martinez and Gloria McColl asked that the city continue negotiations with Thoryk/MacHutchin and seek a lease agreement within the next 18 months.

“I support going forward,” said Gotch, who had made it clear at the outset of the hearing that he liked the plan. “The object is to spruce up Mission Beach, to broaden the small business opportunities, and I’m prepared to move forward.”

But several Mission Beach residents and merchants complained bitterly after the vote that Gotch had missed the point.

“This is land that was given to the citizens of San Diego by the Spreckels family to be held in trust as a park,” said Carol Havlat, president of the Mission Beach Merchants Assn.

“We believe if you want to get to a public beach, you should be able to get to it. Why do you need a shopping center down there, when you already have Seaport Village, Marina Village, other shopping centers in San Diego?”

Also critical was Alan Brown, a past president of the Mission Beach Town Council and now a member of its executive board. The developers’ figures on the need to demolish the roller rink building and build new retail space in order to save the pool were “based on blue smoke,” Brown argued.

The city’s initial request for proposals to develop the site four years ago had asked applicants to preserve The Plunge. But “the scale and scope of the (current) project is beyond what Mission Beach can support. There are other economic ways to save The Plunge. Go for a new RFP (request for proposal),” Brown urged.

Developer Edward C. Malone, one of the initial four applicants who wanted to develop the site, was also critical.

Saying that he was not “a disgruntled former proposer” but was speaking as a concerned citizen, Malone said there was no need to demolish the roller rink building. He cited city reports from 1981 through 1984 that had emphasized the need to save it and asked, “Can that building be salvaged in an economic manner? I would submit that it can.”

Also questioning the project was Kathryn Willets, chairwoman of the city’s Historical Site Board. She pleaded with the committee to put off Wednesday’s vote until after her board had reviewed the plan at its meeting next Wednesday.

“My fear is that your committee’s endorsement of the conceptual proposal will constitute a de facto approval,” Willets said in a letter to committee members. But, she requested Wednesday, if committee members were to act now, they should seek a full analysis of the economics of demolishing or renovating the historic buildings around The Plunge. The committee, however, did not order such a study, or even discuss the need for it, when it ruled on the plan.

The Historical Site Board’s secretary, Ron Buckley, has said in a letter to city Property Department officials that “there is absolutely no evidence to support the need to demolish the building.”

The Thoryk/MacHutchin plan calls for building seven new buildings totaling 74,000 square feet. That proposal is scaled down from an earlier plan to create 140,000 square feet of commercial space, development partner Steve Davis said.

“We’re not insensitive to the needs of the community,” he said. The developers reduced the size after neighbors objected, he said.

To create the new square footage, the plan calls for razing the roller rink and Plunge buildings. The interior swimming pool room and the pool itself, with the skylight above it, are to remain.

The city expects to receive about $70,000 a year in rent from the project. But if that money is applied to the pool’s expected operating losses, the city’s return would probably be nothing, Property Department Director Steve West said.

The development of Mission Beach Park has been a controversial topic for several years, but interest was heightened in February, 1984, when Thoryk/MacHutchin were given exclusive negotiating rights to develop the park.

Thoryk was one of four bidders when the city in 1981 sought proposals from private developers. At that time, developers suggested a time-share condominium project, an aquatic-theme amusement park and a hotel/shops complex. All were rejected by City Council members, including Gotch, because of their emphasis on commercial development.

In February, 1984, Thoryk approached the city again, this time with MacHutchin, whose wife, Nancy, was the chief fund-raiser for the 1983 campaigns of Gotch and Mayor Roger Hedgecock. Thoryk/MacHutchin asked and promptly received permission to begin negotiations to develop the park. Under the agreement, no other companies were allowed to submit proposals.

According to a Gotch aide, Thoryk was selected because his 1981 proposal was the only one to envision saving The Plunge. Also, Gotch aide Mike Haas has said, the park will be no more commercialized under Thoryk’s plan than it was 50 years ago, when the amusement park was in full swing.