Size of Proposed Hotel Reduced by 150 Rooms

A proposal to put a 300-room hotel on a beachfront lot owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has been scaled back to 150 rooms, over the objections of the owner.

Council members Monday night cut the number of hotel rooms previously agreed on for the 9-acre site and have mandated a “passive” community park on 70% of the coastal property, which is bordered by Marina Drive and 1st Street near the San Gabriel River.

The council, which unanimously agreed to the changes, will vote on the revised plan March 11. Councilman William J. Doane was absent.

The land is the former site of a large power plant which was demolished in the mid-1970s. The DWP is hoping to sell the land, estimated to be worth $4 million, to a hotel developer. Company officials asked the council to let the Planning Commission determine the appropriate number of rooms when a specific project is proposed.

“We, like any property owner in the city of Seal Beach, are concerned and opposed to any action that reduces the value of our property,” DWP assistant manager Gary Langewisch told council members. “We’re not willing to give away property just because we’re a large public agency. We believe that the existing plan is already restrictive enough.”

But Seal Beach Planning Commissioner Brian Brown told council members the reduced number of rooms for the site is still too large.

“You’re [putting] a big commercial development . . . in a residential area,” Brown said. “Clearly the size of the property is inappropriate.”

Said Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings: “I really would like to make this a lovely island of green where we, the residents, and the visitors could come.”