Port Hueneme Welcomes Huge Project : Growth: The senior planner says the city will waive building codes to give the developer leeway in creating the $50-million beachfront complex.

A developer wants to build a complex of condominiums, offices and shops in Port Hueneme that is so vast in scale and design from other areas of the city that officials may have to “throw out the code books” to accommodate it, a city planner said.

The Lawndale-based Dolphin Group has proposed a virtual mini-village on 11.5 acres at the northwest edge of Hueneme Beach, the last undeveloped beachfront property in the city. Included in Dolphin’s proposal for the so-called Sunkist site is 371 condominium units--some contained in two 12-foot-story towers--five four-story hotel buildings, 25,000 square feet of office and commercial space, a health club and a restaurant.

The entire development would be based on a nautical theme, with residential and hotel units laid out in the shape of an ocean liner and two central towers serving as the boat’s “smokestacks,” said Tom Figg, Port Hueneme’s senior planner.

As proposed, the development would violate several city building codes, including restrictions on building heights and dwelling densities, Figg said. But city staff has given the developers wide latitude in drawing plans in order to create a community that will “put Port Hueneme on the map,” Figg said.

“We are kind of throwing out the code books and saying (to the developer) we want to give you the freedom to create this vision,” Figg said.

Early estimates are that the project will cost the Dolphin Group about $50 million to build over about six years, said Tom Hood, the company’s project manager. In addition to building the central complex, the developer will help pay for several off-site improvements, Hood said.

Those improvements include extending a beachfront pedestrian walkway west past Surfside Drive to a lighthouse at the mouth of Port Hueneme Harbor and building a plaza where it ends. The developer will also landscape streets surrounding the complex, realign a seawall that protects the site and add a parking area on half an acre southeast of the property.

In addition, city staff is working on an agreement whereby the city would share in the profits from the sale of the condominiums, a deal that could add about $5.5 million to the city’s treasury, Figg said.

“The city does not plan to be a financial partner in any of this, except to extract revenue,” Figg said.

Developers have entered into escrow with the property’s owner, the Betty Lane Trust, to buy the property for about $14 million, Figg said. But closure of the sale is contingent upon the developer obtaining all needed permits and approvals to move forward with the project, he said.

Besides obtaining permission from the City Council and the Coastal Commission, the developers also need permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to realign the seawall and from the Public Utilities Commission to move a rail line that splits the property in two.

The owner of that rail line, the Ventura County Railroad, has tentatively agreed to realign the tracks along the northern part of the site, Figg said.

The project, which is scheduled to get its first public airing at a Port Hueneme Chamber of Commerce meeting in June, already is drawing criticism from residents of the nearby Anacapa View Homes. Some homeowners there say they are worried that their ocean views will be blocked by the high-profile development and that the increased traffic, pollution and noise that it will produce will degrade their quality of life.

“We moved from the (San Fernando) Valley to get away from all of that,” said Lynn Navis, who has lived in the Anacapa tract for 11 years. “It’s nice and quiet now. Everything will be crowded and smoggy if that grand-scale thing goes in.”

But beach-area activist Dorothy Blake said she thinks that most people will view the proposal as an improvement to the site, which formerly housed a citrus warehouse but is now vacant and covered with weeds and rubble.

“It’s really an eyesore right now,” said Blake, who is one of several beach-area residents who sued the city over its plans to build a recreational vehicle resort at the south end of Hueneme Beach.

“If it’s done right, it could get by without too much opposition,” Blake said.

There have been at least four other plans to develop the property during the past decade, Figg said. Most proposed hotels or other resort-oriented facilities because the California Coastal Commission, which must approve all development along the state’s coastline, gives priority to projects that encourage public use.

But earlier developers dropped out, some because they were unable to secure financing and others because they became convinced from market studies that tourists do not think of Port Hueneme as a destination point, Figg said.

Although those proposals fell through, Figg said the Dolphin Group’s plan stands a better chance for survival because it can recoup its investment through the sale of residential units. “I think this one will see the light of day,” he said.

The current plan includes 88 hotel rooms available for public use, but focuses mainly on residential development, he said.

Despite the numerous permits that the project must obtain, Figg said he is excited about the project. The city staff has been working closely with the project’s architect, the Santa Barbara-based Berkus Group, to oversee its design.

“Some may say the city is promoting this. We’re excited about it, but we have a long way to go to work out the details,” Figg said.