DANA POINT : Panel Urges City to Halt Redevelopment

A citizens’ advisory committee this week voted to recommend that the City Council scrap its redevelopment plans.

By a 61-14 vote, with five abstentions, members of the committee attending Wednesday night’s meeting advised the council by resolution “to undertake no redevelopment projects at this time.”

The 134-member group, called the Project Area Committee (PAC), also voted to hire its own attorney.

“Basically, this was a vote of the sentiment of the committee,” said David Brown, panel chairman. “We would like redevelopment to stop now and not have to deal with any further plans.”

That sentiment represents the majority of Dana Point residents, said Bill Walter, a member of Concerned Citizens Against Redevelopment.

Walter said he hopes council members “will come to their senses and realize they don’t have popular support.”

John Donlevy, assistant to the city manager and the city’s liaison to the committee, said that the vote’s outcome was no surprise but that the vote itself was not on the meeting agenda.

“The vote was something the anti-redevelopment forces brought to a head,” Donlevy said. “They produced a resolution regarding the PAC’s position (that was) not given to the public or to the committee until the meeting.”

City Councilwoman Karen Lloreda also said she was not surprised by the panel’s vote: “It was nothing we didn’t expect. I think it shows we need to get out to the people more and present our position clearly. If they still have strong objections after that, then maybe that’s the time to rethink this.”

The committee vote followed a heated council meeting Tuesday.