Date Set for Hotel Vote : Competing Initiatives to Go on ’90 Santa Monica Ballot

The Santa Monica City Council has decided to place two competing initiatives that would ban future beachfront hotels on the ballot of the next regularly scheduled city election in November, 1990.

Supporters of the initiatives had hoped the council would call a special election, even though neither initiative collected enough signatures to force such an election. The council had also considered placing the initiatives on the ballot for the statewide primary in June, 1990, but on Tuesday it voted unanimously to wait until November because of the savings to the city.

A staff report indicated that a special election would cost nearly $117,000, and that placing the initiatives on the June ballot, when there would not otherwise be a city election, would cost about $109,000. Placing the measures on the November, 1990, ballot would add less than $10,000, for a total cost of about $89,000.

“We kind of expected them to pick November,” said Sharon Gilpin, a spokeswoman for the Save Our Beach (SOB) initiative.

Paul Rosenstein, a committee member of the Santa Monicans for a Livable Environment (SMiLE) initiative, said it was unfortunate that the measures were being put off until next year, but said the cost factors justified the council’s decision.

Although the city may save money by delaying the ballot measures for 14 months, the length of the campaign is expected to make it one of the most expensive initiative battles the city has ever had.

The SMiLE committee raised more than $200,000 and spent nearly $176,000 through Aug. 17, according to campaign financial statements filed with the city. Most of the money was spent on consultants and gathering signatures.

Contributions of $100,000 each came from Maguire Thomas Partners and restaurateur Michael McCarty, developers of two hotel projects that would be exempt under the SMiLE initiative.

The initiative would place a three-year moratorium on other hotel development, and use a portion of hotel bed taxes for the cleanup of Santa Monica Bay and city parks.

The SOB committee raised more than $40,000 through Aug. 2, and spent more than $32,000, according to campaign financial statements filed with the city. Much of the money came from people associated with the Sand and Sea Club, a private club on state-owned beach property that would be torn down to make way for McCarty’s proposed hotel.

Approved in August

The SOB initiative would block construction of the hotels planned by McCarty and Maguire Thomas. The Maguire Thomas project, a six-story, 175-room hotel planned for a site next to the recently opened Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, received city approval in August. However, the SOB initiative could still kill that project if it is not substantially under construction by the November, 1990, election and that initiative is approved. The McCarty project has not yet received city approval.

A Maguire Thomas spokesman said the company would try to have the hotel under construction by then, but he noted that it still needs the approval of the state Coastal Commission.

Spokeswomen for both initiatives said they expected to spend at least $100,000 more before the election.

Gilpin said she expects to be outspent by the SMiLE campaign, but said: “You don’t have to match money if voters are intelligent, and Santa Monica voters are intelligent.”

The City Council was presented a staff report on the potential financial impacts of the two initiatives. It estimated that the two hotels, if built, would generate $3.5 million a year in revenues for the city.

Some council members criticized the report because it appeared to focus on how much money the city would lose if the hotels were not built. Councilman David Finkel called the report an “editorial,” and Councilman Ken Genser called it “a deliberate political decision.”

City Manager John Jalili said that with the limited time to prepare the report, the city staff could not fully analyze what demands the hotel projects would make on city police and fire services or how much traffic they would generate.