Wilson Vetoes State Parks Budget Bill : * Legislation: It would have paved the way for a revival of plans to build a luxury beach hotel on the former site of the Sand and Sea Club.

Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a state parks budget bill that would have set the stage for the revival of a luxury hotel project on the former site of the Sand and Sea Club on Pacific Coast Highway.

In a written message to the state Senate, Wilson said he vetoed the bill because of inadequate information and “concerns over the merits of some of the projects.”

None of those concerns was specified, so it is not known how the governor reacted to the effort by restaurateur Michael McCarty, acting through a lobbyist, to resurrect his plans for a grand hotel on the sand.

Wilson rejected the entire bill, involving park projects all over the state, rather than exercising his line-item veto, which allows him to pick and choose among amendments.

Although the governor’s veto does not ensure that the hotel project is dead, it does mean that the issue will be delayed until the next legislative session in January. Wilson has requested more detailed information on the projects included in the bill.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who lobbied for the governor’s veto, termed it the “second burial of the idea of a luxury hotel on the beach,” which makes the idea “even more unsavory and unlikely” in the future.

McCarty’s dreams were first dashed by Santa Monica voters a year ago, when they overwhelmingly defeated ballot measures on the project and on beach hotels in general.

The site at 415 Pacific Coast Highway was the longtime home of the Sand and Sea Club, which was ejected from the beach because it was a private club on public land, contrary to state law requiring public access.

Though he agreed to bow to the will of the voters, McCarty sought to reinstate his project through a last-minute amendment to a budget bill. The amendment called for the return of the property to state control based on a claim that Santa Monica has not fulfilled the conditions of its 60-year lease with the state.

Sharon Gilpin, a leader in the move to block the hotel, was active in a grass-roots move to get Wilson’s veto. “I deplore (McCarty’s) use of a lobbyist to sneak it into a bill the way he did,” Gilpin said. “This is a person who stood before the city and said, ‘Put my project on the ballot and I’ll abide by the decision.’ ”

Santa Monica officials and residents, along with local state legislators, sprang into action to gain Wilson’s veto of the bill, which was passed in the crush of last-minute legislation last month. About 2,000 postcards and letters were sent to Wilson from local voters opposing the hotel, and a flurry of lobbying efforts was made to inform Wilson of the background of the issue.

McCarty forces were also forceful in furthering their cause, Hayden said, and had access to the governor’s staff.

McCarty was out of town and could not be reached for comment, as was his lobbyist, Jeff Arthur, a former aide to state Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside). Arthur placed the Sand and Sea Club amendment into the parks bill with help from Presley.

Presley, who lobbied the governor to sign the legislation and this week accused Assemblyman Terry Friedman (D-Los Angeles) of demagoguery for his opposition to the bill, was not available for comment either. A member of his staff in Sacramento referred a reporter to lobbyist Arthur to obtain more information on what the next step will be in the battle over the site.

“The question of what happens at that site is a thorny one,” said Hayden, who renewed his offer to participate in a task force to look into the issues surrounding the site and determine how it can be best used.

After taking over the site a year ago, the city of Santa Monica has refurbished the old clubhouse for public events and for rent to private parties. The public was immediately granted access to the paddle tennis courts and parking lot, and a moderately priced restaurant was opened.

The problem, Hayden said, lies in a contradiction in the state guidelines for the beach, which call both for maximum public access and for generating maximum revenue for the beach fund. “Everybody just lived with the contradiction,” Hayden said. “You can’t make a public beach into a profitable enterprise.”