Coastal Agency’s Staff Criticizes 2 O.C. Projects

The staff of a powerful state agency is again coming down hard on posh waterfront developments in Orange County. The California Coastal Commission’s staff is recommending that the panel deny a proposed gated community at the majestic Marblehead property in San Clemente and is urging the commission to scrutinize a proposed spa at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point.

Environmentalists were overjoyed by the latest moves.

“It’s more clutter on the coast,” said Mark Massara, director of coastal programs for the Sierra Club. “We applaud staff review of all of these impacts from overdevelopment and sprawl along the coast.”

The developer of the Marblehead project did not return calls for comment, and a consultant for the spa dismissed the criticism.

Public hearings and votes on both issues are scheduled for the commission’s meeting Jan. 11 in Los Angeles.

Similar hearings in recent months have led to major downsizing of other Orange County projects and other concessions by developers: The commission slashed in half the amount of buildable land at Bolsa Chica and forced the owner of Hellman Ranch to set aside scores more acres than originally planned as open space.

Marblehead Said to Violate Coastal Act

The Marblehead project, on 250 acres that were once the proposed site of the Nixon presidential library, would include 424 homes and an 84,000-square-foot outlet mall and retail center. The commission’s staff recommended that the state agency deny the project because it would destroy pristine canyons and wipe out rare vegetation, violating several sections of the state’s landmark Coastal Act.

The development “would dramatically transform the natural landforms,” the staff report says.

The slopes of two canyons would be filled for single-family homes; grading and construction would destroy wetland buffers; and native vegetation, including the rare Blochman’s Dudleya, would be bulldozed. The report says the developer failed to submit sufficient information about damaging environmental effects.

Attempts to reach the developer, the Lusk Co. of Irvine, were unsuccessful.

The commission will also vote on whether to hold a public hearing on a planned spa at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point. The 32,276-square-foot spa would boast a beauty salon, boutique, lap pool, sun deck, whirlpool, sauna and other amenities for hotel guests.

But the project would obstruct existing public access near the beach and other areas, the staff wrote. The report goes on to say that while the plan includes efforts to minimize effects on public use, the city’s approval of the plan does not include any measures to ensure that the efforts are implemented and maintained.

Phillip Schwartze, president of the San Juan Capistrano-based PRS Group, said that the plan would actually improve public access by making a pedestrian walkway flatter and, therefore, more usable.

“We tend to disagree with the assertion that it’s a major issue,” he said. He added that the hotel would be agreeable to conditions ensuring that public access is maintained.

Additionally, the commission will vote Jan. 11 on a Verizon Wireless cell phone tower in Seal Beach. The six-antenna, 50-foot tower is proposed for the northern corner of Zoeter Field, at the northwest corner of 11th Street and Landing Avenue.

The staff recommended approval with two special conditions: that any future antennae be located in the same area and that if the tower becomes unnecessary in the future, the company will remove it and restore the site to its former condition.

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Up for Votes

The California Coastal Commission will consider three Orange County projects at its meeting next week in Los Angeles, including a proposed addition to the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the Marblehead development.