Proposal for Hotel Draws Little Fire at Del Mar Meeting

A 125-room hotel and time-share condominium complex planned for Del Mar’s main intersection drew considerable praise and relatively scant criticism at its first public hearing, surprising some Del Mar Planning Commission members.

In a city where citizens watch development proposals like hawks and even a proposed home improvement can become the source of an acrimonious falling out between neighbors, Thursday night’s outpouring of public support for the proposed Del Mar Hotel was rare indeed.

A number of those who spoke in favor of the hotel, proposed for Camino Del Mar and 15th Steet, were long-time residents who remember the former hotel that once occupied the currently vacant site.

“I remember, as a high school kid, going to dances at the old hotel,” said 70-year-old Swede Throneson, who likes the plans.

Others testified that they were tired of looking at a vacant lot for 20 years, and also thought Del Mar developer Jim Watkins’ plans for the hotel were well-conceived.

Watkins is seeking a permit to build an 88,000-square-foot, two-story hotel complex that includes provisions for 7,700 square feet of retail space and an indoor and outdoor restaurant. The complex also includes 24 time-share condos that would be used on a weekly basis.

The condos did draw criticism from several quarters, however. One resident, who supported the hotel, objected to the condos, which would be adjacent to his house on the north of the site.

“It would be like having half of Del Mar move in next door, once a year,” said Woody Barley. Barley said the proposed condominiums would loom nearly 50 feet above his house and afford residents an unimpeded view of his daughter’s bedroom.

Commissioner Lew Dominy had his own concerns about the project, and asked that Watkins place “story poles” on the site to indicate the perimeter, bulk and height of the complex.

“I’m personally a little dubious” about the view corridors to the ocean that the developer says will go through the hotel site, Dominy said. “All the models and vignettes and pretty pictures won’t tell near the story that those story poles will tell.”

Dominy said the use of the poles is normally limited to single-family residences.

The commission ordered the story poles put up the weekend before the next public hearing on the hotel, April 28, “to help people visualize the height and view corridors,” said interim Del Mar planning director Lise Strandgaard.

The surprising absence of strong opposition may be due to the passage last year of Measure B, the so-called “downtown initiative” that will require final approval of the project by the voters. Under Measure B, the hotel plan will be put on the ballot only if the Planning Commission and the City Council give the project a thumbs up. It must then receive a majority approval.

The proposed Del Mar Plaza, directly across the street from the hotel site, won approval by 41 votes earlier this year. The only other development that has come under Measure B, another proposed hotel, was handily voted down by residents.

“If this had happened before Measure B, it would have been a more cantankerous hearing,” said hotel opponent Gordon Clanton. Claiming that “the drawings that exist don’t have ground elevation figures,” Barbara Stegman asked that the commission delay making decisions until more information is available. Stegman speculated that opponents were saving their ammunition for April 28th public hearing. “You’ll probably have a lot more people opposed at that meeting,” she said.