Coastal Commission Staff OKs Controversial Ocean-Bluff Golf Course : Development: But state officials have questions about public beach access and open space at the Rancho Palos Verdes site.

The California Coastal Commission staff has given preliminary approval for the construction of a spectacular but controversial ocean-bluff golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes.

However, state officials are questioning other aspects of the 258-acre, $35-million residential and recreational development proposed by Orange County developer Barry Hon and Palos Verdes Peninsula builder Ken Zuckerman. Officials report the project fails to provide enough public access to the coast and does not set aside enough open space.

The developers plan 83 home sites bordering the golf course and say their project will rival famed Pebble Beach on the Monterey County coast. Opponents contend the golf course violates the land-use restrictions imposed by the Coastal Commission on lands in the upscale bedroom city of 42,000. City planners disagree and are recommending City Council approval of the project. The council will hold a public hearing on the project Tuesday.

In an unusual move, Hon and Zuckerman requested a preliminary state ruling on the acceptability of an 18-hole golf course on the property. Ordinarily, the commission would have no jurisdiction unless the city approves the project, as expected, and the opponents appeal that decision to the state body.

The Coastal Commission staff did the review last month and sent a report of its findings to the developer on April 30, approving the golf course but raising other objections.

The project is located in the southeast corner of the city, off Palos Verdes Drive South. Results of the Coastal Commission’s review will figure in the city debate over the project, officials predicted.

Local conservationists argue that the golf course will destroy a habitat of the California gnatcatcher. The tiny songbird, which nests in the coastal sage scrub found in various places around the project site, may soon be declared an endangered species.

“We don’t want a golf course there,” said Andy Sargent, spokesman for the Coastal Conservation Coalition, a group of environmental organizations that includes the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society.

The coalition contends the Coastal Specific Plan, which has been approved by the state and adopted by the city, forbids locating a golf course on the coastal headlands. The group contends that only a public park or undeveloped open space are acceptable there, under the state-mandated regulations governing coastal lands.

Not so, said a senior state coastal official, adding that a golf course is acceptable under state regulations and the city’s General Plan.

“A subdivision and commercial golf course may be approved on the property,” Pamela Emerson, Coastal Commission permit supervisor, wrote the developers on April 30.

However, Emerson told the developers that their design failed to meet several guidelines regarding open space, public access roads and trails along the bluffs.

As designed, the project “does not appear to be consistent with the (public) access to open space and habitat (protection) provisions,” Emerson wrote.

That news surprised both the developers and city planners, who say the project is acceptable and meets all requirements.

Potentially troublesome is a disagreement over what constitutes open space for public access and use of the areas along the bluffs. The developers maintain the golf course will meet these requirements because they will put in deed restrictions that will dedicate the course to public use.

Emerson disagreed, saying the golf links “cannot be regarded as ‘dedicated public use’ as contemplated.” She said no part of the golf course can be built along the outer ends of the bluffs, because these headlands must be preserved as “common open space.” This would affect several cliff-top fairways and greens that are now proposed.

In conclusion, Emerson said the commission staff felt the project “as currently designed” did not provide enough public access, open space or protection of the natural area.

“We couldn’t disagree more,” said Dale Neal, attorney for the developers, arguing that the project provides more public access and habitat protection than the law requires.

“We believe that a fair and reasonable interpretation of the (Coastal Specific Plan) will stand up well in all those areas,” Neal said.

City Planning Director Carolynn Petro said she was “surprised . . . (that) they’re taking issue with these other things.” The ruling that the golf course was acceptable was “good news,” she said, adding that she hoped the other objections could be worked out to the state’s satisfaction.

The Hon-Zuckerman project has become controversial because it is being proposed for one of the last, large blocks of open land that still can be developed on the California coast.

Much of the hilly property was once used by the military for coastal defense, and the foundations of old gun emplacements dot the rugged landscape. The bluffs are cut through by canyons and draws, the flats have been farmed and, here and there, are patches of coastal sage scrub.

“This project would destroy some of the last coastal sage scrub left in the county,” said Gar Goodson of Save Our Coast 2000 and a member of the coalition.

Developers said they have conducted extensive habitat surveys, pinpointed four nesting pairs of gnatcatchers and are preserving 16 acres, 75% of the existing habitat. In addition, three new acres of coastal sage scrub will be created in strategic spots around the course, they said.

The half-acre building sites will be evenly divided on either end of the project, and bluff-top roads will lead out to small public parks overlooking the ocean, Hon said. The developer said bicycle and pedestrian trails will loop through the area.

“This is a unique site . . . the last (large parcel) on the coast,” Hon said. He said the design of the project contains the “highest standards” and will eventually be “better than Pebble Beach.”

Proposed Golf Course The California Coastal Commission staff has given preliminary approval for construction of an ocean-bluff golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes. The 258-acre, $35-million residential and recreational development is proposed by Orange County developer Barry Hon and Palos Verdes Penninsula builder Ken Zuckerman.