Dana Point Residents Seek Vote on Headlands Development Plan

A group of local residents opposed to a controversial $500-million hotel and residential plan for the Headlands has launched a petition drive to bring the issue to a citywide vote.

The group began circulating a petition last weekend calling for a referendum on the City Council’s April 5 vote to approve the plan, said Doug Thompson, leader of the petition effort.

“We are just a bunch of folks who decided this was too important an issue to go by without a vote,” Thompson said. “We don’t think the city cut the best deal possible.”

The council-approved plan allows a future developer to build a 400-room hotel and 370 homes on the 121-acre Headlands near Dana Point Harbor. The council is negotiating a development agreement with the landowner that would bind the city by contract to the plan.

If project foes gather 1,800 signatures--a figure that represents 10% of the city’s approximately 18,000 registered voters--by May 4, the council would be forced either to repeal its decision or put the plan on the ballot.

“I’m anticipating we’ll have more than enough signatures,” Thompson said.

Since the 1940s, the Headlands property has been owned by the M.H. Sherman Co. and Chandis Securities Co. Chandis Securities, which oversees the financial holdings of the Chandler family, is a major stockholder in Times Mirror Co., which publishes The Times.