Balboa Bay Club Confronts Sea Change

The kill zone, that swatch of Balboa Bay Club sand prowled by Joseph Wambaugh’s “hot mamas” in his recent book “The Golden Orange,” will become part of what city planners call a view corridor.

The main ballroom where that bad boy of baseball, Billy Martin, warmly signed autographs for kids at the annual Christmas bash a few weeks before his death in 1989 will be replaced with meeting rooms designed for considerably less gaiety.

The bar frequented by movie stars Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner before sailing to Catalina will be raised a story or two so that patrons will have a decent view of Newport Bay instead of boat hulls and bowsprits.

And the “Six O’Clockers,” that aging fraternity of early rising he-men who munch on doughnuts and sweat them off in the steam room, will get a another whirlpool to soak in because the Men’s Spa is on the proposed site of a subterranean parking lot.

Members and officials of the 42-year-old club say the face lift is long overdue. After all, the venerable establishment on Lido Channel, where many of the state’s rich and famous have sought refuge for decades, is getting a little shabby around the scuppers.

In the works is a proposal to completely renovate the Bay Club, a bastion of the good life on public land that was once described by a councilman as the city’s premier “tear-down”--Newport slang for old beach dwelling.

The ambitious $60-million overhaul, now wending its way through the City Council, has placed the bay-front enclave at a crossroads and steered it into a squall of competing concerns that could shape its future.

Up one route is the status quo--maintaining the club roughly as it has been since the 1950s--a semiprivate fun zone for the successful that has generously hosted charitable events and let the general public use its conference facilities.

Up another route is the renovation, which would create a commercial resort and alter the character of the original establishment. Pressured by state and local land-use laws, the club, if redeveloped, must grant the public unprecedented access to what was once the exclusive domain of its 4,200 members.

If redeveloped, the club will no longer be recognizable except for its burgee, or identifying pennant. The grounds will be a far cry from the debris-filled mud flat that was once dotted with Army Air Corps shacks and docks for Navy patrol boats.

Since the founding of the club in 1948, the site has been improved dramatically and today includes a huge swimming pool, clubhouse facilities, guest accommodations and a 144-unit block of apartments that critics have dubbed “The Great Wall of China.”

From the start, the club has attracted prominent people from all over the nation and helped set the style and social standards for the city. The guest and membership roster has included Greta Garbo, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle, former Gov. Goodwin Knight, John Wayne, Chuck Yeager, Ronald Reagan, Spiro Agnew and Frank Sinatra.

Richard M. Nixon has repeatedly visited the club and took refuge there after resigning from his presidency amid the Watergate scandal. While campaigning for President in California, Barry Goldwater stayed at the Balboa Bay Club.

“It’s the kind of place where James Watt and Lee Iaocca have been in the restaurant, having lunch at the same time,” said Michael P. Stanko, the club’s general manager.

While the redevelopment plan has run into criticism from two neighborhood associations and some longtime members, more foreboding for the club is the possibility that it might not survive at all if its current lease with the city is not renewed. It expires in 2011.

Balboa Bay officials have asked the city for a new 50-year lease to replace the first one signed in 1948--a contract the council extended once by 12 years, with improved revenue for the city. The club’s chairman, William D. Ray, says he needs a new rental agreement to get the financing already earmarked for the proposed renovation.

A number of Newport Beach citizens say the city has no business leasing prime public bay-front property to a private commercial interest such as International Bay Clubs Inc.

Some citizens and two council members say a new lease probably should be voted on in a citywide referendum, something club officials would like to avoid. Legal opinions obtained by both the club and the city are split on whether the public or the council should decide the lease. Some say the issue may well end up in court.

“They are using public property for the benefit of a few,” said Al Beaudette, president of Cliff Haven Community Assn., which represents homeowners on the bluffs above the club. “I am sure they have been gracious letting the public use its conference facilities, but shouldn’t the public have a say in how the land is used? I believe they should.”

Twenty years ago, a proposal to extend the club’s lease by five years was resoundingly defeated at the polls by a 2-to-1 margin. Some members of the City Council believe that that kind of animosity toward the club still exists, but Balboa Bay officials say that 1970 was a different time and the proposal did not benefit the city very much.

The lease issue has yet to be resolved. For now, council members and club officials have set their priorities on developing an acceptable project for the 13-acre site and preparing for the vote on whether to approve it.

Planning commissioners have already approved the proposal. The City Council is scheduled to take up the project again next week at a public hearing. If passed, the project must go before the state Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission.

“It is a very complex issue,” said Councilman Phil Sansone. “No. 1, we must determine what is the best use of public land. The revenue the city will get is a question. There is the bulk and mass of the project and whether that’s appropriate for the location. There are questions about noise, view interruption and traffic.”

Although they have concerns about aspects of the proposal, most council members praised the concept and believe that something should be done to upgrade the club’s buildings, most of which were built 30 to 40 years ago. They declined to discuss their respective positions or what changes they would make. Some, however, questioned the profitability of a new resort, and Councilwoman Jean H. Watt said she has major reservations about the expansion.

“I find tons of fault with this,” Watt said. “The bulk and mass of it, the public is not going to benefit from the use, and economically we clearly could do better if we let it revert to the city and ran it ourselves.”

If the management of the Bay Club gets its way, the site that was donated to the city in 1928 by rancher James Irvine will contain a 300-room hotel and 77% more space than the present facility.

The grounds will include a 130-seat restaurant, a 150-seat coffee shop, two cocktail lounges, 12 meeting rooms, a ballroom with a capacity of 450, and a parking structure. Club members will get a new athletic facility, meeting places and reserved spots in the restaurant.

The club’s Terrace Apartments on the west 4 acres of the facility will remain as permanent residences until 1998, when they must be removed to comply with state tideland restrictions. Hotel uses for the site would be allowed, but nothing has been formally decided.

City officials and Balboa Bay Club President Thomas G. Deemer say the city will gain an attractive facility and a substantial increase in revenue from the property if the project is approved. The city receives somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million a year from the current lease.

By its own admission, the Balboa Bay Club is “transitioning” from a private membership facility to a “visitor-serving commercial” operation, according to an environmental impact report for the project.

Urban planners estimate that only about 10% to 15% of the grounds, including an athletic facility, will be “members only.” The public would be able to go onto the grounds without a guest pass or approval from the front office.

Club officials say the plan complies with the state Coastal Act, which requires public access to all state tidelands. Coastal Commission staff have recommended that visitor-serving facilities such as a hotel are appropriate.

“The Bay Club people want to assure the members a club feeling, but the bottom line is that there is a significant shift in the amount of area the public can use,” said Patricia L. Temple, the advance planning director for the city. “This is a fairly significant shift in my mind.”

But the proposed changes worry some longtime members, who fear that the club’s reputation, upscale atmosphere and readily available facilities will be lost. At most, they favor some sprucing up of the grounds and cosmetic improvements.

“It is detrimental to the fundamental flavor of the club,” said Del Kahan, a 26-year member who owns a marine electronics business. “The project will have a commercial orientation with a substantial increase in the density of humanity. Many of the members don’t like this. It is a rather inflammatory issue coming to a head.”

Deemer says the proposal does not present anything different from what the club has been doing for years. The facility has served its membership well, he says, while letting upwards of 75,000 people a year use the grounds for conferences and social events.

“We will be primarily a club with a commercial facility on the property, but the emphasis will remain on the club members,” Deemer said. “There will be a harmonious mix, and the members will have the best of both worlds.”

After almost three years of preparation, the proposed expansion went through the Planning Commission without a peep of opposition. Then last week, more than a hundred citizens packed the council chambers for a 3 1/2-hour debate on the project.

They were worried about noise, traffic, the size of the project, their views of Newport Bay and whether a new resort would be profitable. Citizens were also concerned that the club’s Terrace Apartments will be converted into more hotel accommodations in 1998, effectively doubling the size of the proposal.

Club officials have tried to assuage those concerns with plans for buffer zones, sound abatement measures, landscaping, view corridors, a subterranean road and 35-foot height limits on new buildings. City planners have said hotels do not generate that much new traffic and that no panoramic views of those living on Kings Road above the club will be obstructed.

Deemer contends the hotel will be profitable because its bay-front location is more desirable than other resort sites in the city. What is more, he says, it will provide an economic boost to Mariner’s Mile, which has a number of vacant commercial buildings.

Others point out that a city study in 1986 concluded that the best and most financially attractive use of the site was a mix of commercial and private facilities. The study compared three scenarios--a private club, replacing the club with public parkland, and a combination of commercial and private uses with public access.

“I do feel there is a considerable amount of misinformation and disinformation out there,” said Councilman John Hedges. “The city staff and the Bay Club have tried to mitigate the adverse impacts on surrounding residents. I’d like to think everyone is being open-minded about it.”

Two of the most vocal groups in the debate have been the Bayshores Assn. and Cliff Haven Community Assn., the ranks of which include the club’s immediate neighbors. They have joined forces to minimize the impact of the project on their areas and have met several times with club officials to discuss a list of recommendations. If need be, the groups are prepared to start a legal fund in case a lawsuit becomes necessary.

“We are not opposed to a renovation and not opposed to the concept,” said Beaudette, the Cliff Haven association president. “We want them to be sensitive to our needs. We are exploring our options and trying to better understand this.”

The city’s environmental group, Stop Polluting Our Newport (SPON), also has some questions about the scope of the development and the environmental impact report, which does not include an analysis of a new lease with the city.

Mark Weinberger, SPON’s attorney, says the report might have to include the new rental agreement. But city staff contend that state law does not require a discussion of a new lease because it does not have an environmental impact.

“Our feeling is that alternatives to the extension of the lease for the Balboa Bay Club is something that should be analyzed,” Weinberger said. “The city has ways to use the property other than a lengthy renewal of the current lease.”

Author Wambaugh, whose surgically enhanced females culled the club’s tiny beach for bachelors of substantial means in “The Golden Orange,” said he would like the expansion on the condition that certain amenities remain.

“As long as the bar and the kill zone--that patch of sand--are still there, everything will be fine, and my friends, associates and cronies and the hot mamas will survive.”

Balboa Bay Club Expansion Plan

The Balboa Bay Club is seeking to build a new 300-room hotel, two bars, a coffee shop and a restaurant at its site on West Coast Highway. The plan to redevelop the facility from the ground up calls for a facility with almost 77% more space. Also, the general public will gain unprecedented access to what has been the exclusive domain of members.