CORONA DEL MAR : Final Plan for Hyatt Resort Hotel Is OKd

The Orange County Planning Commission on Monday approved final plans for a 450-room Hyatt resort hotel at Pelican Hill despite the protests of housing activists, who said the project fails to supply adequate low-income housing for the hotel’s minimum-wage workers.

About 10 housing advocates--some of them representing Orange County HOUSING NOW, the League of Women Voters Orange County Chapter and a local hotel and restaurant workers’ union--urged the commission to delay the project and require a more comprehensive housing plan.

After the vote, HOUSING NOW spokesman Tim Carpenter said his coalition will appeal the Planning Commission vote to the Board of Supervisors. Commission members did not say when the matter would go before the board.

The $140-million Hyatt Resort is the first of three hotels being developed for the Irvine Coast Planned Community, south of Corona del Mar. When complete, the project will include about 2,600 new homes and two golf courses.

Housing activists contend that the projects will create a large number of low-income jobs in an area with little or no low-income housing. As a result, they said, the majority of workers will be forced to commute from other areas of the county, contributing to the county’s traffic and air-pollution problems.

However, Hyatt and Irvine Co. officials told the Planning Commission Monday that roughly 900 units of affordable homes proposed for the nearby San Joaquin Hills Planned Community would satisfy the demand for low-income housing. That development also is being built by the Irvine Co.

In addition, hotel officials said they would attempt to alert employees to available low-income housing in adjacent cities.

“Affordable housing is a legitimate concern in Orange County and California but we’ve addressed this issue and I’m pleased the commission approved the project without any more conditions,” said John Tynan, vice president of the Hyatt Development Corp.

Carpenter noted that federal affordable housing guidelines would apply to local workers earning between $26,000 to $40,000 a year and rejected arguments that the affordable units planned for the San Joaquin Hills project will meet the needs of most typical low-income households where two wage earners may bring in $17,000 a year.

Those arguments also did not mollify opponents of the project.

“Right now the project is moving forward and we’re greatly concerned,” Carpenter said. “It’s very important because it is setting a precedent for future development in the area.”

Planning Commission members also expressed concern about the true affordability of the proposed low-income housing. The commission voted unanimously to require public hearings before approving the affordable housing plan for the San Joaquin Hills Community, which is being considered separately from the hotel.