$110-Million Resort Would Be First Project of 15-Year Plan for Catalina

Avalon officials are betting that a proposed $110-million resort on Descanso Beach will generate the tax money needed to solve some of the tiny island community’s most pressing problems.

Called “The Pointe Catalina,” the 300-suite development would be the first step in an ambitious 15-year plan by the Santa Catalina Island Co. and the city to upgrade and expand Avalon’s tourist services, officials said.

The facility is expected to generate about $2 million a year in tax revenue, enough for the city to begin to pay for road improvements, affordable housing and a new city hall.

Built on terraces up the side of a canyon above Descanso Beach, the 27-acre resort would be built and operated by Pointe Builders of Phoenix. Plans call for it to include a convention center, recreational and health club facilities.

The 15-year plan also calls for the renovation of several blocks in the downtown area to make way for commercial plazas and shopping malls. Streets will be widened or realigned, there will be low-cost employee housing developments, and there are plans for a civic center with a new city hall, fire station and community meeting rooms.

The city’s share of the development costs will be paid out of tax revenues raised by the new resort, officials said.

The Descanso Beach development has been tentatively approved by the city Planning Commission and council. However, city officials still must rezone a seven-acre parcel on the hotel site and amend the state-mandated coastal plan before final approval can be given.

The zoning change and coastal plan amendments must also be reviewed and approved by the California Coastal Commission before the project can go forward. If all goes as planned, construction would begin sometime early next year.

“The Pointe is the key here to meeting our needs,” City Manager Chuck Prince said. If it opens on schedule in 1995, the resort and convention center will generate $2 million in tax revenues yearly, he said.

While the city and Santa Catalina Island Co. officials are enthusiastic about plans for the resort, the developers report they have not yet secured financing for the project.

“We don’t have the financing in place yet,” said J. Ric Williams, Pointe vice president for project development. He said that would come after final project approval, and predicted there would be no problems raising funds for the “one of a kind” island resort.

Avalon, a city of 2,900 people located in a picturesque harbor 25 miles off San Pedro, attracts a million visitors a year. Most come over by ferry in the summer, filling the hotels, snarling traffic on the narrow streets and crowding the postage-stamp size beach.

On a big weekend 10,000 visitors a day come down the gangplanks. The city currently has 850 rooms that accommodate an estimated 2,500 guests, which doesn’t count those who sleep on cruise ships or private boats in the harbor.

After Labor Day the tourist business dwindles to a weekend trickle, meaning less income and fewer jobs.

As a result, the city has never had enough revenue to keep up with its needs, officials said. The 75-year-old City Hall and firehouse are badly outdated, the city doesn’t have enough affordable year-round housing, and sewers and solid waste disposal remain constant problems.

While the city restricts the number of vehicles allowed on the island, the narrow streets are congested by hundreds of rented electric golf carts creating traffic problems.

Water is also a problem. The island’s limited supply of fresh water has been augmented by a costly desalination plant built and operated by the Southern California Edison Co., but the short supply has limited development.

Avalon is the only city on the privately owned island, which was purchased by chewing gum magnate William R. Wrigley Jr. at the turn of the century. The Wrigley-controlled Santa Catalina Island Co. still owns much of the Avalon town site.

The city, tightly squeezed into a space not much more than a square mile, is bounded by steep mountains and deep, wrinkled canyons. There is little vacant land left for development.

The concept of a 15-year development plan was first proposed by Santa Catalina Island Co. in 1989. Since then company and city planners, working with residents, have come up with a proposal that starts with the Descanso Beach development.

The land is owned by the company and will be leased to the developers, company officials said.

Included in The Pointe Catalina project will be 114 units of employee housing to be located in Bird Park in another part of the city. The resort will employ 220 workers, officials said.

The Pointe builders will also expand the existing nine-hole golf course, doubling its size, and take over the Country Club restaurant.

Other parts of the 15-year plan include:

* The Island Plaza Block: A commercial plaza with large grocery store, post office, retail office and commercial services.

* Atwater Block: A commercial redevelopment project to replace 70-year-old offices and shops. In addition to new ground-floor commercial and office space, the development will include a 100-bed family hotel on the second floor.

* Las Casitas: The 7.3-acre site will include a new civic center, plus an affordable 140-unit townhouse or apartment rental complex for island employees.

* Wireless Point: A hillside restaurant above the casino.

* Pebbly Beach: The construction of new desalination plant and expansion of electrical generation.

The only part of the plan that has been firmed up is the Descanso Beach resort development, company officials said. The rest is a joint city-company wish list, a company official said.

Island Development A 15-year master plan for Avalon calls for, among other things, a multimillion-dollar hotel/resort complex on Descanso Beach, a new civic center, city hall and various other improvements.