Group Calls for Ban on New Hotels at Beach

A group of Santa Monica slow-growth activists is seeking support for an initiative that would ban the construction of hotels, motels and large restaurants along Santa Monica Beach.

Representatives of the newly-formed “Save Our Beach Committee” said they hope to gather 10,000 signatures backing the initiative, enough to place it on the ballot for a special election this year.

Sharon Gilpin, a film maker and veteran of past slow-growth initiative campaigns, said she and a handful of activists began the drive because of a “flood” of hotel and motel construction in her beach neighborhood in the last two years.

“The views from Palisades Park, the open beaches, these are valuable resources,” Gilpin said. “We need to protect these resources for all generations.”

The proposed initiative would be an amendment to Santa Monica’s Comprehensive Land Use and Zoning Ordinance and would create a “Beach Overlay Zone” from the center of Ocean Avenue east to Santa Monica Beach. Construction of hotels, motels and big restaurants would be prohibited in the zone, which would extend from Santa Monica’s northern border along Ocean Avenue and along Nielson Way to the city’s southern border. Santa Monica Pier would be exempted from the zone.

Failure Predicted

Those close to the development community predicted the initiative would fail or would be challenged on legal grounds.

“It’s inconsistent with the California Coastal Law, which encourages hotel and visitor services in beach areas,” said Christopher Harding, an attorney for the Santa Monica Area Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think there’s a significant chance it would pass.”

City Councilwoman Christine E. Reed said the initiative, if passed, would hamper city efforts to revitalize the beach. “(The initiative) would have an adverse impact on the economy of the beachfront,” she said.

“It would certainly stop the development approved by the council for the Sand and Sea Club site,” she said. Last year, the City Council approved a 148-room hotel and community center for the site, which is owned by the city but leased by the private club.

Gilpin said the initiative’s supporters include Douglas Badt, manager of the Sand and Sea Club. Badt could not be reached for comment.

The committee submitted the proposed initiative to the city clerk’s office Thursday. City Clerk Clarice Johnsen said the signatures of 15% of the approximately 56,000 registered voters in Santa Monica--about 8,400 signatures--would be needed to call a special election.

Hotel Construction

At least two hotels are under construction along the beachfront--the 196-room, six-story Park Hyatt Santa Monica Beach Hotel at the end of Pico Boulevard, and the 349-room, four-story Lowes Santa Monica Beach at 1700 Ocean Ave.

City planner Wanda Williams said she has received numerous complaints from residents near the sites of the two hotels.

“They’ve expressed a lot of concern about the hotels going up around them,” Williams said. “They are concerned that sunlight will be blocked and that traffic and noise will increase.”

Last year, Gilpin supported another petition drive, a comprehensive slow-growth measure that would have placed restrictions on commercial construction. The initiative was denied a place on the ballot when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the petitions were invalid, in part because they did not include the names of the sponsors.

According to the city clerk’s office, the last petition drive to succeed in placing an initiative on the ballot was in June, 1986. Proposition M, an amendment to the city’s rent control law, was defeated.

The last successful initiative placed on the ballot by petitions passed in June, 1984, when Proposition Y changed the date of general municipal elections from April to November.

The city attorney will complete a review the initiative within 15 days, Johnsen said. The activists will then have 180 days to gather signatures, she said.