SAN CLEMENTE : Moratorium Urged on Pier Bowl Plans

The Planning Commission this week unanimously recommended imposing a 45-day moratorium on all proposed development in the city’s Pier Bowl area.

The commission’s 5-0 vote is not binding. The City Council is expected to decide April 15 on the recommendation.

If the moratorium is approved, the council will schedule a public hearing to consider extending the ban for 14 months. That is about the time that’s needed to develop a detailed plan for the area’s future, Planning Commission Chairman John T. Tengdin said.

“You shouldn’t start playing the game until you know all of the rules,” Tengdin said Friday. “This is to allow time to set up the rules.”

The moratorium was originally recommended by the Pier Bowl Task Force, a subcommittee of the city’s General Plan Advisory Committee, which is developing a city development plan.

“The primary concern is that we’re right in the middle of a planning process,” Planning Commissioner Steve Apodaca said. “It makes sense to follow logical steps. It’s designed to guide development rather than have development guide the planning process.”

The commission’s vote was opposed by Robert Laidlaw, owner of the Beachcomber Motel, who has submitted his plans for a 123-room luxury resort at 583 Avenida Victoria in the area.

“The effect of a moratorium will not simply delay the development of a hotel, it will stop it cold,” Laidlaw said in a letter to planners.

Laidlaw said that he has spent “huge sums of money” on the project and that even a short delay would create “a financial disaster that the project cannot absorb.”

Apodaca, who is also chairman of the task force, said the proposed moratorium is not meant to scare off developers who may be interested in building projects.

“We’re not trying to stop development in any part of the community,” he said. “We are simply trying to guide and enhance that development. It may be painful in the short term, but in the long term, it will be a benefit.”