A New Battle for Newport Legionnaires

For more than 50 years, American Legion Post 291 has been at home on the bay-front beach at 15th Street near the tip of Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula.

Prime real estate in today’s market. So prime that Legion members are worried about a proposal kicking around that would trade them in for a high-priced hotel. Post Cmdr. Dennis Lahey this month even sent a letter to members to try to enlist their help in defending their turf.

They’d better act fast.

Tuesday night, the Newport Beach City Council is going to consider five proposals for how to redevelop both the American Legion land and a mobile-home park to its immediate north. Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood emphasizes that none of the five would completely shut out the American Legion.

On the other hand, none with a chance to pass would keep the veterans in their exact same spot. Adios Post 291?

City Councilwoman Jan Debay doesn’t think so.

She’s met with Steve Sutherland, the developer who seems to be the front-runner of the five. His company, Sutherland Talla Hospitality, wants to build a Regent International Hotel on the property. Not only would Sutherland find room for the American Legion, his plans call for a better facility than the one Post 291 has now, Debay said. (The victim in Sutherland’s plan would be the mobile-home park.)

Feelings of the Vets

“This city would never pass any plan that would not consider the feelings of those veterans,” Debay said. “I really believe this would be a plus for everyone.”

The lunch crowd at Post 291 has a different view.

“They’ll never get a hotel here,” several yelled to me when I visited there. “No way to handle the sewage, the traffic, the water.”

These folks were angry, and didn’t feel as loved by the city as Debay hinted.

“We’re the poor man’s Balboa Bay Club,” Legion member Frank Martinez said. “Why take this away from the average American?”

If that’s how they feel, they ought to head to City Hall on Tuesday night.

Lahey says he’s also met with Sutherland. He’s less enthusiastic than Debay that his troops will be happy with what’s planned. He also has a fear that what’s planned will never become a reality.

“We want things to stay the way they are, period,” he said.

Lahey added that “we’ve had a low-key approach to this thing so far because we have a long history of getting along with the city. But there may be a time when we’ll have to show up as a troop for the city to take us seriously on this.”

The City Council may not act at all Tuesday. Still to be decided is the issue of just how much land along the water there is considered “tidelands” as opposed to “uplands.” That enters into what kind of development would be permitted, and that issue is still stalled before the State Lands Commission, which has been sitting on it for more than a year.

On the other hand, the council may indicate a favorite among the five proposals, which would give city officials the clearance to begin planning. Wood said the Sutherland proposal was the most detailed submitted so far and Debay believes it’s the one with the best chance of passing.

Whatever happens, the American Legion stalwarts had better be prepared.

“The city may not be obligated to us legally,” said past post Cmdr. Paul Curtis. “But there’s a moral obligation there.”

Sixty years ago, the American Legion owned a prime spot along 10th Street, but the city needed it before World War II to extend Bay Avenue. So the American Legion traded that site for a lease on its current 15th Street site. Since then it’s built a marina, which it operates in cooperation with the city for shared revenue.

The expectation, Curtis said, was that the American Legion could stay there forever.

But that may not be realistic in today’s market. The city wants the best bang for the buck. Some officials believe a hotel there could generate $3 million annually in city revenue. What it gets from the American Legion is paltry by comparison.

But here’s something the city does get from the American Legion that can’t always be measured in dollars and cents: a good neighbor.

Post 291’s bay-front home has been open to just about everybody in Newport Beach at some point, and over the years it’s donated tens of thousands to local charities. It has a history as an enriching part of the city.

Last November, when my colleague Scott Martelle first wrote about this brouhaha, some from the city sniped that the majority of the American Legion members don’t even live in Newport Beach. That’s a nonargument, I’d say. When they served in the military, they represented all cities in America.

Debay challenges anyone upset about Sutherland’s hotel proposal to come take a look at the plans on paper, to see for themselves how the Legion will be taken care of.

She makes a good point. On the other hand, if they look at the plans and still aren’t happy, they’d better do something besides gripe about it at the Post 291 bar.

Lahey says his recent call for help brought more than 200 responses from members. He might need them.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7789 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com