ELECTIONS: AVALON : Future of Quaint Island Resort Community Hinges on Upcoming Ballot

Seldom in the colorful history of Santa Catalina Island politics has the Avalon city election had more significance than it will have April 14.

At issue in this election is the future of this quaint Mediterranean-style resort community of 2,900 people just 25 miles off Southern California. Pressured by a packed summer tourist season and a sagging winter economy, local officials have some hard choices to make.

In addition to seeking ways to spur the winter economy, the city faces a critical shortage of low- and moderate-income housing, both pedestrian and vehicular traffic are congested, the tiny beach is crowded, and there is limited space for the town to expand and grow.

Politically, the island is an old-fashioned place where candidates may decide to run simply because the incumbent has been in place too long, said Hal Host, a retired insurance executive who is running as a write-in candidate against incumbent Mayor Hugh T. Smith.

“Hugh Smith has run unopposed for two terms; nobody should run twice unopposed,” said Host, who currently serves on the council.

Smith, a retired airline captain, has been on the council since 1974 and mayor for the past eight years. He is a proponent of slow, controlled growth.

Six candidates are running for two council seats. In addition to the mayor, City Treasurer Harry W. Stiritz Jr. also faces opposition. Only City Clerk Shirley Davy is unopposed.

The most immediate single issue facing the council and mayoral candidates is the new 15-year growth plan proposed by the Santa Catalina Island Co., which owns most of the town and the island’s most developable lands.

The plan, which is now before the planning commission awaiting approval, calls for an upscale 300-suite hotel and convention center on Descanso Bay. Under the plan, the city and the company would jointly develop a new civic center on the Las Casitas site, near the small golf course.

The plan also calls for expanding the golf course to 18 holes, creating a shopping mall downtown, improving traffic circulation, and adding more moderate- and low-income housing.

The council candidates all back the plan’s basic concepts, although they say the specific parts of the plan must be worked out before they’ll give final approval.

The six council candidates include two incumbents, Paul Puma, an investment banker, and Norman Stow, a realtor. The other candidates are George Scott, a newspaper distributor; Mike Leo, a campground ranger; Ralph Morrow Jr., a businessman, and Sophie Tarbuck, a retired businesswoman.

Leo sparked controversy when he suggested that the city adopt some kind of rent control to regulate both vacation rental prices and restrict the conversion of year-round housing to summer rentals.

For years, owners of rentals have charged a winter rate, say $1,000 a month, and then boosted the rent to $1,000 a week in the summer season, he said. This forces year-round residents to move out, double up, even sleep out during the summer because they can’t afford the higher rent and can find no other affordable housing, he said.

Though most of the candidates agree that this is a problem, the idea of city-imposed rent controls brings a negative reaction from the other candidates.

“I am absolutely opposed to any kind of rent controls; they only spell disaster,” said Puma, a banker and financial adviser.

City Treasurer Stiritz faces opposition from his assistant, Deputy Treasurer Christine Graham. She is quick to point out that she lives full time on the island, making residency an issue. Both she and Stiritz are certified accountants.

City officials say that the treasurer’s job is part time and that Stiritz has accounting offices in both Avalon and Torrance and commutes to the island several days a week.