Council Reaffirms Support of Headlands Resort Project

With little fanfare, the City Council on Tuesday reaffirmed its recent approval of an agreement binding the city to a controversial $500-million resort plan at the Headlands peninsula.

As it did on April 26, the council voted 4-1 in favor of the 73-page development agreement that allows a 400-room hotel, two commercial centers and 370 homes on the 121-acre peninsula near Dana Point Harbor.

State law requires the council to vote twice to officially adopt a city ordinance that enacts the agreement.

City Councilman William L. Ossenmacher, who has argued that the agreement heavily favors the landowners, again cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday.

Ultimately, the plan could be the focus of a citywide vote. The county Registrar of Voters is checking a petition circulated by a grass-roots group that calls for a referendum on the project.

Also, members of the Dana Point Headlands Conservancy are raising funds and lobbying for a local bond initiative to buy more of land on the peninsula.

The plan’s opponents believe that more of the Headlands property should be preserved as parks or open space. Its proponents claim the landowners have a right to develop the property and the hotel and commercial space will provide long-term revenue to the city.

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