Council Deadlocked on Pierside Project

After four hours of heated debate, the city Planning Commission on Tuesday night deadlocked 3 to 3 on the Pierside Village project, forcing continuation of discussions of the controversial development at the commission’s next meeting.

“I feel it’s a political pork barrel issue that we are being rousted into making a decision on,” Commissioner Barry Williams said in explaining why he voted against the project. “I don’t know why we have to have these things shoved down our throats like this.”

In addition to Williams, commission Chairwoman Geri Ortega and Commissioner Victor Leipzig voted against the project, saying they feared it would increase traffic on Pacific Coast Highway.

Commissioner Ken Bourguignon was absent.

The project, which is planned for the area immediately south of the Municipal Pier, will be brought back before the commission at its next meeting on Nov. 6--Election Day.

Critics have charged that the project’s developer, Jonathan Chodos, has pressured commissioners and council members to approve his plans before the election. City voters will elect successors to three councilmen who strongly support the project and will decide on a charter amendment that would prohibit the sale or lease of city beach or parkland without a citizens’ vote.

Chodos denied that he has lobbied for quick approval but acknowledged that he would like to see the project approved before the election.

Noting that city planners have repeatedly revised and delayed the project during the past 18 months, Chodos said: “I feel this project has already been victimized enough, and I would prefer it not be further victimized by the political process. And if that means getting this done before Nov. 6 . . . then that’s what I’d like to see happen.”

The Pierside Village proposal has sharply divided council members, planning commissioners and city residents since the council adopted its concept in 1986.

Originally, it was envisioned as an 87,500-square-foot complex of several restaurants and 60 retail shops. A scaled-back version calls for between three and five restaurants, including the reconstruction of Maxwell’s Restaurant, along with promenades and plazas totaling about 48,500 square feet.

The project, which would also include a parking structure providing more than 600 spaces, is planned for 3.5 acres of land that is now used as street-level parking.

Proponents tout Pierside Village as the centerpiece of the city’s ongoing downtown redevelopment. They say the project would attract more visitors, bolster revenue for the city and, because of its promenades and plazas, would provide ocean views.

A large, vocal group of critics, however, has rallied to oppose the project, charging that the 25-foot-tall buildings would block ocean views and ruin the beach’s natural atmosphere.