Rancho Palos Verdes Council Lists Desires for Hotel Project

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, discussing the proposed coastal Ritz-Carlton hotel, golf course and residential development, made clear that it wants fewer homes than the 159 permitted under present zoning--and a golf course that the public will have sufficient opportunity to play on.

Meeting to discuss coastal issues, the council also emphasized to the prospective developer, Barry G. Hon of Orange County, that it wants the project to preserve open space and provide public access to the coast, perhaps via a bluff-top road.

With four of Hon’s representatives in the audience, the council said it wants the 500-acre development laid out in one plan, even though Hon owns only part of the land and has said he will reduce the project if he can’t buy all of it.

The project would be along Palos Verdes Drive South, just west of the San Pedro boundary.

The council has initiated a zoning change on the bulk of the property, now earmarked for single-family houses, to provide the 25 commercial acres that Hon needs for the hotel. The lengthy rezoning procedure, which could lead to approval, allows the staff and council to evaluate development.

Environmental Services Director Robert Benard said that if 25 acres are zoned commercial, the allowable number of single-family houses would decrease to 134 because the residential acreage would be reduced. Some council members said 134 should be the maximum, and Councilman Mel Hughes said he wants even fewer houses.

The council also discussed, but reached no conclusions on, another coastal developer’s proposal to use undeveloped parts of Point Vicente Park for a golf course in connection with the hotel and conference center he plans to build at the former Marineland site.

John E. Corcoran, a spokesman for the developer, James G. Monaghan of Arizona, said in an interview that the golf course concept will be part of its formal presentation on the development to the council on March 15.