11th-Hour Debate Over Resort

Laguna Beach residents made a last-minute plea to the City Council on Tuesday to add more open space at the controversial Treasure Island resort, a development planned for a 30-acre bluff top in South Laguna.

The council was set to vote on final approval for the project, but public comment on the issue continued into the night.

The project is made up of a 275-room hotel, 17 houses, 14 condominiums, two restaurants and a bluff-top public park on a 30-acre site. The developer is Phoenix-based Athens Group in partnership with Ritz-Carlton, a subsidiary of Marriott International Inc.

City officials say the project will generate nearly $3 million in annual tax revenue--about 10% of the city’s general fund. The development has been strongly opposed by a number of residents, though.

Treasure Island, formerly a mobile home park, is one of the last undeveloped parcels on the Southern California coast. The state Coastal Commission’s 1998 approval for a resort there drew heavy criticism, much of it on environmental issues. Though a majority of city voters approved the concept last year, the plan has met continued opposition.

“I have a basic disappointment,” resident Ginger Osborne said Tuesday. “The hotel is massive. We have tried to work to ensure the developer keeps to the plan that was agreed to by voters, but that’s been a very difficult task.”

Among objections are that the development, on South Coast Highway north of Aliso Beach, will cause water pollution, traffic congestion and parking problems, and that the hotel will be out of scale for the village character of Laguna Beach.

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said opponents still could ask the Coastal Commission to review details of the plan and seek state intervention.