Plan to Save Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse Makes Waves : Development: Some residents are opposed to putting a large restaurant on the beach. They say the area already has traffic, parking and crime problems.

To park officials in San Pedro, placing a popular restaurant at Cabrillo Beach is a good way to generate money and save a landmark structure in desperate need of repair.

To residents along the beach, however, adding a popular dining establishment to an area already beset by traffic, parking and crime problems is a recipe for disaster.

Those views will shape the debate over the merits of a plan to allow a private developer to transform the aging Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse into a restaurant and retail complex.

When the proposal was unveiled by Los Angeles Recreation and Park Department officials at a meeting last week, many of the beach area residents in attendance blasted the project, saying it would exacerbate problems that have troubled the community in recent years.

“I can’t for the life of me understand how people could be allowed to take over part of a beach that is already too crowded and too small,” longtime resident Irene Goldstone said. “We never voted for this plan. The whole thing is just shocking.”

Although nearly everyone agrees that the 72-year-old bathhouse should be saved, there is a wide split over the city’s desire to place a large restaurant in the area.

Because the city had no money for renovation, officials sought a private developer to refurbish the local landmark. Two years ago, the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners selected a Pomona-based partnership to convert the bathhouse into a restaurant and several small shops.

Commissioners said they chose the proposal by the Hurricane Gulch Development Co., named after the popular San Pedro windsurfing spot, because that company’s project promised significantly more revenue for the city than the competing bid by the San Pedro Bay Co. Hurricane Gulch Development Co. estimates that the project will generate as much as $2.8 million in sales tax revenue over 10 years--more than 10 times the other bid, which proposed a different renovation and profit-sharing plan.

The muted reaction to the plan two years ago convinced department officials that the project had widespread support--until last week’s meeting when details were revealed.

“We were very surprised,” said Julie Boxx, Pacific Region administrator for the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department. “We just wanted to get some community reaction, but we didn’t expect this. . . . It’s definitely a stumbling block. It raised questions in our mind about the project and it raised questions in the (developer’s) mind.”

Still, Boxx said the department will recommend that the park board approve the proposal next month. The plan must still be passed by the Los Angeles City Council and the state Coastal Commission, and officials expect that it will be at least six months before all the development permits are issued. Officials from the development company could not be reached for comment.

The timing couldn’t be much worse as far as Cabrillo Beach residents are concerned. The summer crowds at the beach have meant lots of traffic in the neighborhood, with a 500-car parking lot sometimes being filled by 9 a.m.

And during the last year, the area has been the scene of numerous gang conflicts. Just two weeks ago, five San Pedro gang members were charged with murder after a brawl near the beach left a 24-year-old man dead and several of his companions seriously injured.

Police have accused the gang members of chasing the victims to an alley near Pacific Avenue and 40th Street and repeatedly hitting them with a baseball bat. Robert Chartier, who police say was not a gang member, died at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Area residents, who fought hard to have a gate placed at the beach so it could be closed at 10:30 p.m., are currently organizing a block watch program in an effort to “take our neighborhood back,” according to one. They say a neighborhood diner would be more appropriate for the area than a large restaurant.

Although no deal has been completed, Hurricane Gulch Co. officials have been negotiating with representatives of the El Torito Restaurant chain over the terms of a 30-year-lease for the bathhouse building. Residents say they will fight the proposal every step of the way.

“What they’re talking about doesn’t really serve the beach’s needs,” Tor Hovind said. “ . . . We would like something more like a diner type that closes when the beach closes.

“As far as we’re concerned, this proposal makes a ridiculous situation even worse. They’re going to give someone a 30-year lease, and they’re telling us, ‘Trust us on this.’ And we’re saying basically that we don’t.”