Pebble Beach Plan Concessions Offered : Golf: The Japanese owner bows to pressure from the Coastal Commission so a plan to sell memberships can proceed.

Bowing to pressure from the California Coastal Commission, Pebble Beach Co. offered to make concessions so that it can proceed with a controversial plan to sell private memberships at its legendary coastal golf course.

The proposed settlement, which Pebble Beach attorneys released Monday, offers to seek approval of an amendment to the local land-use plan. The proposal must be approved by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and the commission.

However, Diane Landry, a staff attorney for the commission who helped devise the settlement, said approval by the commission is far from assured. The supervisors are expected to consider it today and the commission at a meeting Wednesday in Marina del Rey.

If a settlement is approved, the parties have agreed to drop the lawsuits that have held up the company’s plans to begin selling as many as 2,000 memberships in a new Pebble Beach National Club.

The commission, charged with maintaining public access to the coast, is concerned that sale of private memberships might limit access. The commission has argued that the plan constitutes a change in land use and therefore requires a public hearing and an amendment to the local land-use plan.

Pebble Beach Co. has maintained that the commission has no jurisdiction in the matter. The company said it would agree to the settlement to avoid a long legal battle on the issue.

The proposed settlement would force Pebble Beach Co. to seek permits if it ever wanted to increase private members’ use of the course. The settlement would require that no more than 30% of the average occupancy of Pebble Beach Co.’s two lodging facilities be filled by club members and their guests.

The owner of Pebble Beach, Japanese golf course tycoon Minoru Isutani, has been eager to sell memberships to help pay off the hefty debt he incurred in buying the property last September. Joseph E. Petrillo, an attorney for Pebble Beach, said Monday that the company expects to sell memberships for $100,000 to $200,000.

Commission staff lawyer Landry said: “The settlement is just one option.” She said the commission may also consider an appeal by a Monterey resident who contends that the membership plan ultimately would vastly reduce the public’s access to the coast. That decision would keep the membership sales on hold.