Headlands Developer Offers New Compromise

In the tug-of-war with city officials over plans for the Dana Point headlands, the developer offered a new compromise Wednesday but warned that concessions would “go by the wayside” if a deal isn’t made soon.

Developer Sanford Edward of Laguna Beach said he would agree to limit to 185 the number of houses on the 121-acre site. That is the same number of units that the city had recommended and down from 267 homes in an earlier proposal. He also proposed to abandon plans for housing on an environmentally sensitive bluff-top area and to deed that land and possible park areas to the city or another public agency.

Edward set a deadline of Friday, however, for the city to agree to stop processing its Dana Point Headlands Specific Plan, unveiled earlier in the week and scheduled for hearings before the city’s Planning Commission Aug. 12.

“We think that we are nearing a turning point,” Edward wrote to city officials Wednesday. City planners could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Remaining as a significant difference is the location of a proposed resort hotel: near the bluff top overlooking Dana Point Harbor, as Edward proposes, or farther west along the beach, as the city proposes.

Also on Wednesday, a consultant hired by Edward to garner public support for his plans quit, saying the developer was moving too quickly to sell the plans to the public.

“It’s the ‘unity’ in ‘community’ that gets the job done,” said the consultant, San Clemente public relations consultant Kathy Barnum.