Del Mar Council Under Fire on Architect

Saying Del Mar officials are being blinded by a big-name reputation, several local builders and architects have questioned whether the city is paying too much for the design of a downtown community center.

Focus of the criticism is the city’s retention of Robert A.M. Stern, the internationally acclaimed New York architect known to the public as the host of the 1986 public television series “Pride of Place.” Stern was in Del Mar Thursday night to attend a public meeting for the $5.2-million project.

Last fall, the City Council voted to pay $800,000 to Stern’s New York business and Bokal Kelley-Markham, a Del Mar architectural firm, to co-design the 29,000-square-foot complex to be built in the heart of the city’s business district. Stern is the lead designer for the project.

In recent months, several residents have approached the council to question the design expenditure and resurrect a locally inspired mid-1980s plan, claiming the current designers are charging up to five times the going rate for their work.

City officials say that, although the Stern bid was the highest of four finalists for the project, the final product will be enduring structures that will make local residents proud.

Anyway, they say, the nay-sayers had their chance to voice disapproval last fall when the city considered bids, and it’s too late now to play armchair quarterback.

But several residents in the building and design industry said voters must still approve the project through a ballot that could come as early as November--so the matter is not closed.

“I can’t for the life of me understand why the city is willing to pay that kind of money for this project if they knew in reality what these guys will work for,” said Elliott Woolly, owner of WPA Development and a former city planning commissioner.

“There’s a lot of good local talent here--kids out of college who can do as good conceptually as someone with 50 years in the business. It’s like these officials are paying this outrageous amount of money, hoping to get a better deal. It’s a huge, huge financial sacrifice to pay for these people to build a monument to themselves.”

Jim Kelley-Markham, a partner in the local firm working with Stern on the design, called the criticism exaggerated. “None of the four finalists had offered to do the job at one-fifth of our offer, so I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Herb Turner is one resident who has appeared before the council on the issue. A local building designer, he was part of a committee assigned by the council in 1984 to create a design and financial plan for an affordable community center. The committee’s proposal to build a civic center with leased commercial space to help pay for construction was voted down by the council.

Turner says he wants the council to now reconsider the less-expensive original plan and place it on a November ballot, joining the Stern plan. Either plan would first have to be accepted by voters before it could be enacted.

Stern’s schematic renderings call for a three-building complex built from brick, stucco and natural wood, arranged around open-air plazas softened by vine-covered pergolas--a look he says has precedents in Southern California.

So far, the city has paid $126,000 for the development of schematics and would pay the rest once the plans were approved by voters. Neither Stern nor the Bokal Kelley-Markham firm would say how the $800,000 would be divided between them.

Nonetheless, Turner says the city is being asked to reach too deeply into its pockets for the project. “I think it’s grossly excessive.”

Local architect Lew Dominy, a former Planning Commission member. said: “I think the council was very much taken by a big-name architect. And they’re probably only getting him as the front man anyway.

“I mean, look at all the journals, you see his name everywhere associated with a lot more glamorous projects. This is not a big project. He can’t be giving this his time. But the city is sure paying for it like he is.”

The council, he said, has so far shunted criticism of the project: “It’s full-speed ahead for this council. They’ve got their agenda and off they go.”

Councilwoman Gay Hugo-Martinez denied the claim. “We went through a very fair process in selecting an architect, and every member of the public had an opportunity for input. Where were they then?

“Now that the project is well on its way, they’ve decided to criticize. If they looked at the other proposals, they’d see that the one we selected was not out of line. But there are unhappy people who are out to attack it, and they’re being vicious.

“But Del Mar needs this project. And if the project is ultimately changed because of this, I say shame on them because it could just lead to increasing the costs.”

Reached Thursday, Stern said he was disappointed over the criticism.

“I’m surprised that other architects would use the issue of fee just because I’m not from Del Mar,” he said. “This is the first time this has happened in my career. It’s unbelievable.”

Stern denied that the fee was excessive. “My fee is based on a carefully thought-out relationship with the client and for a good design. That takes time, and time costs money. We’re not designing a supermarket here.

“We’re doing a very important community center for a very important place--it’s going to be a finished product of enduring value.”