2 Local Projects to Be Decided 600 Miles Away : Development: The Coastal Commission, sitting in Eureka, will rule on the Channel Gateway in Venice and an Adamson Cos. hotel in Malibu.

Six hundred miles from Los Angeles, the California Coastal Commission meets this week in the North Coast city of Eureka to decide the fate of large-scale development projects that could change the face and feel of Venice and Malibu.

Local activists and even some Coastal Commission insiders complain about the expense and inconvenience of having issues of consuming local importance decided at a location that is as far from Los Angeles as Salt Lake City--and considerably harder to get to. Weekday round-trip air fare to Eureka is more than $500 unless one spends the weekend there.

Although far removed from those who will be most affected by developments, the commission will consider during its four-day meeting whether to grant final approval for construction of the massive Channel Gateway project in Venice and issue earth-grading permits for the Adamson Cos. hotel project in Malibu.

The panel’s monthly meetings alternate between Northern and Southern California, and developers have learned to time their applications to increase the likelihood that a project will be considered in one part of the state or the other.

Under state law, unless a developer waives the privilege, the Coastal Commission must schedule a hearing on a matter within 49 days of when a completed application is filed.

Thus, a developer whose project in Southern California is certain to generate community opposition may try to obtain a hearing during a commission meeting in Northern California.

In many cases, developers will simply seek the earliest possible hearing because delays are expensive, and Channel Gateway developer Jerome Snyder and Adamson Cos. officials make no secret about their eagerness to start construction--indeed, Adamson officials would have preferred a hearing at last month’s meeting in Long Beach.

Nonetheless, the scheduling of key decisions on the two Westside projects for the one meeting a year the commission holds in Eureka is especially noteworthy considering that the September meeting will be held in Marina del Rey.

Although the Coastal Commission staff often does what it can to ensure that a matter is heard closer to home, the 49-day rule, and the fact that applicants also have the right to ask for a continuance, often force opponents of a project to either travel or remain silent.

Nowhere is the issue more sensitive than in Malibu, where exploding development in recent years has resulted in the area’s receiving more attention from the Coastal Commission than any other coastal community in the state.

“The system stinks,” slow-growth activist Sara Wan said. She complains that developers have become adept at ensuring that when their projects come before the state panel, it is as far away from the folks back home as possible.

“If it’s a hot proposal from Malibu, the game is to try and get it on the agenda in San Francisco, or, better yet, Eureka, where (the developer) knows almost no one is likely to show up to oppose it,” Wan said. “You see it all the time.”

A veteran of many appearances before the commission, Wan insists that the panel’s interest in a project is often influenced by how much public discussion, pro and con, it generates.

“When the commissioners look up and see a lot of people there, for or against something, they tend to sit up and take more notice,” she said. “Let a few (public) speakers question something, and pretty soon one or several commissioners start to question.”

Missy Zeitsoff, a member of Malibu’s future City Council, said she will urge that all Coastal Commission matters involving Malibu be heard in Marina del Rey once the embattled coastline community becomes a city.

“I don’t think it’s fair to expect people to have to travel such great distances when Malibu matters are constantly before the Coastal Commission,’ she said.

In the case of Channel Gateway, the commission will consider the project scarcely more than a month after the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the $400-million high-rise residential and office complex.

The staff member who handled Channel Gateway in the commission’s Long Beach office will not be present in Eureka because of budget limitations. Although the Long Beach office is involved in dozens of Los Angeles County and Orange County matters pending before the commission, the tight budget means that only the office manager can attend the Eureka meeting.

“We don’t have the budget to send people all over the state,” said one commission staffer, who asked not to be identified.

Commission executive director Peter Douglas acknowledged in an interview that Channel Gateway was given priority treatment for a hearing, but defended the decision because 20% of the 544 apartments in the project will be reserved for persons with very low incomes. “We do what we can to expedite affordable housing projects,” he said.

The development on Lincoln Boulevard, just outside Marina del Rey, also includes an office building and 512 luxury condominiums in two 16-story towers. None of the condominiums are designated as affordable units.

Douglas said he discussed the matter with developer Jerome Snyder and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter before placing it on the agenda. Both were concerned that $67 million in tax-exempt financing for the apartment portion of the project could be jeopardized if approval is delayed.

While expediting consideration of the project, Douglas is urging the commission to consider substantial issues regarding the development’s lack of compliance with previous plans for construction of a bypass road around Marina del Rey.

Culver City officials will make the trek to Eureka in a last-ditch effort to stop final approval of Channel Gateway. Culver City is threatening to file suit against Channel Gateway in retaliation for Los Angeles’ efforts to block construction of the Marina Place regional shopping mall, three blocks away.

Joseph Pannone, former city attorney and now special counsel to Culver City, said the Coastal Commission’s meeting in Eureka will limit public participation in the decision. “It’s going to be very difficult for them to get up there,” he said.