Headlands Plans Are Fair, Equitable

* I’m not an environmentalist but that doesn’t mean I am not concerned about my environment. I’m just tired of the over-exaggeration, by some, of almost every facet of the Dana Point Headlands development.

We have to recognize that the land on the Headlands is privately owned and someone has been paying property taxes on that land for a lot of years. It seems only reasonable and fair that the owners have the opportunity to do something more with the property than just pay taxes on it.

The City Council and city staff have been working for months to develop a fair and equitable plan for everyone and it appears, at this stage, that there will be over 50% of the headlands left as “open space” with dedicated parks, a new public access provided to the beach in front of the headlands and walking and biking paths throughout.

This hardly sounds like the chilling scenario described by Mr. (Cliff) Wassmann (Letters, June 13).

No city can make a decision of this magnitude without carefully considering the financial ramifications. It is important to the citizens of Dana Point that the city be able to generate some long-term revenue from the headlands development. With the trend in state government, the city will be losing revenue to the extent of several million dollars over the next several years. A hotel, of the quality of the one proposed for the headlands, would add $1 million to $2 million annually in revenue to the city. Many of those who are now imploring us to save their heritage will be the same ones, down the line, who will be demanding more police officers, better street repairs, drug programs, gang programs, support of the arts and other city programs that will suffer if sufficient revenue is not available.

The strongest advocates of anti-development and the ones making some of the wildest claims live right on top of the headlands. I wonder how much sagebrush was lost and species killed when their houses were built?

The environmentalists have a right to be heard but it is time we recognized that their position is not the only one that has merit. There are a lot of us that want a fair compromise for everyone.

DICK MACKAIG

Dana Point