DANA POINT : Group Plans Rally to Fight Development

The Dana Point Headlands Conservancy will celebrate its founding at a rally designed to help the group fight an $800-million resort and housing project proposed for a bluff top in the city.

The Founders’ Fest and Rally For the Headlands will be held Nov. 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the swimming beach in Dana Point Harbor.

The festival will feature barbecued chicken and fixings and family entertainment.

Environmental experts and presentations will answer questions about the Dana Point Headlands and why environmentalists think the area should be preserved.

Tickets are $10 and must be purchased in advance.

Those planning to attend should mail a check, payable to the Dana Point Headlands Conservancy, to Donna Oakley at P.O. Box 1028, Dana Point, Calif. 92629, by Friday.

Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of the tickets.

Tickets for requests received after Friday will be held at the door at the event.

Guest are encouraged to bring their own beach chairs. Alcoholic beverages are banned.

Recently founded, the conservancy is dedicated to protecting and preserving the Dana Point Headlands as the last large open space and natural resource in the city.

The 121-acre site is privately owned by the Newport Beach-based M.H. Sherman Co. and Chandis Securities Co., who are proposing a resort and housing complex that would overlook Dana Point Harbor.

Chandis Securities, which oversees the financial holdings of the Chandler family, is a principal stockholder of Times Mirror Co., which publishes the Los Angeles Times.

The conservancy opposes the project and wants to see the land converted to public use.

The money raised at the festival will will go toward establishing the conservancy as a nonprofit organization, group leaders said.