Planned Resort Tests Dana Point Council : * Proposal Will Show How Committed City Is to Its Community Housing Standards

Dana Point, faced with a proposal for a major new resort in Monarch Beach, is struggling to find a way to welcome the project while at the same time making sure it doesn’t have a negative impact on local housing. The City Council is making good progress toward a solution, but more work is needed to come up with a final plan that will satisfy residents’ concerns while also opening the door to a development that promises to be a boon to the city.

As a new city incorporated just two years ago, Dana Point has been grappling with how to plan for its growth. It wants to foster a healthy business climate but also protect the community from overdevelopment and crowded housing conditions. Adoption last July of a general plan was a step in the right direction. Debate over the plan also clarified issues of concern to city residents.

The proposed resort provides the first major test case of how committed the City Council is to maintaining community housing standards. After sharp debate, the City Council voted 3-2 to require the developer, Japan-based Nippon-Shinpan Co. Ltd., to provide rent stipends to one-fourth of its expected 580 employees. Housing assistance will be aimed at employees who earn $20,000 or less annually, but details of how it would be carried out have not been determined.

Mayor Mike Eggers, who is also an administrative aide to Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), is nonplussed when asked whether some people might consider the housing stipends to be an unlikely position for a pro-business conservative Republican to back. He says that it is part of a growing trend among cities to require businesses to be responsible for the communities they locate in, whether it be their impact on the environment, traffic or housing. But others, such as Councilwoman Eileen Krause, who voted against the stipend requirement, are concerned that Dana Point be perceived as anti-business. She believes the city needs to study more carefully exactly what the developer should do to help employees find affordable housing. Even Krause, however, agrees that housing mitigation measures of some kind are in order.

The council’s action puts the resort’s developer on notice that it must come through with a credible plan to help house its low-income employees. To its credit, the developer--while not thrilled about the turn of events--has indicated a willingness to work with the city.

What’s in order now is an overall plan laying down guidelines for all businesses in the city.