Measure’s Defeat Clears Way for Hotel, Offices and Shops

The defeat of a special measure Tuesday in Manhattan Beach paves the way for a former pottery plant site to be transformed into a 40-room hotel, offices and shops.

The measure, which would have set aside the parcel next to the ocean for public use, was defeated by a margin of nearly 5 to 3.

City officials will now await the soon-to-be completed environmental impact report on a proposed 90,000-square-foot development before making a final decision on what to build on the lot.

Earlier this spring, the City Council contracted with the Tolkin Group, a developer that helped transform Old Pasadena and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, to draw up plans for the project.

“I am absolutely thrilled” at the election results, Helene Lohr, who had campaigned against Measure 2000A, said Wednesday. “The silent majority was there after all.”

Backers of the municipal initiative contend that putting a commercial development on the three-acre site, near the Manhattan Beach Pier, will bring traffic and crowds and destroy the community’s village-like atmosphere.

But voters sided with City Council members and two residents’ groups that favor developing the city-owned land. More than 33% of the city’s registered voters cast ballots in the election, up from 12% in the last city election, a city spokesman said.

Bill Eisen, spokesman for the anti-development group Residents for a Quality City, said that if City Council members vote to put a large development on the site, his group may try for a referendum against the project in the future. But if city officials go forward with a smaller development, his group may quietly accept it, he said.