Dana Point Headlands Specific Plan: ‘Chilling Scenario’ of Development

I’ve just finished reading a horror story set in the not-too-distant future. No, I’m not talking about “Jurassic Park,” it’s called the Headlands Specific Plan, recently released by the city of Dana Point. I had to wait two weeks to get a copy and now I can see why they are not anxious for the public to see it.

The book goes into graphic detail on what will ultimately be the destruction of one of the last undeveloped pieces of coastline left in Southern California. It is a chilling scenario for anyone that has ever driven up Cove Road to watch the sunset or walked the (Dana Point Harbor) and marveled at the huge sandstone bluffs.

The relative peace and quiet we now enjoy would be shattered by over 16,000 vehicles a day passing through. And the views we love would be framed not by cactus and coastal sage but by the rooftops of over 500 luxury homes, a 400-room hotel and the storefronts of more vacant commercial space. Even the landform itself--the city’s namesake--will be radically changed, “an unavoidable adverse impact.”

A while ago the Save the Headlands organization distributed a flyer with a cartoon of what the development might look like. It was meant to be an exaggeration to get people’s attention. It looks however, like the developer used it as his blueprint. From every angle all that can be seen are structures lining the bluffs. Not even the point above the Marine Institute, the most significant landmark, is spared.

The contempt shown for the sensitive plant and animal species which call the headlands home is equally appalling; 80%-100% destruction of some species is again “an unavoidable adverse impact.”

It’s easy to send off a check to Greenpeace or Sierra Club to fight those bad people trying to cut down rain forests or kill whales, it’s quite another to go against your own City Hall. If, however, you don’t want Dana Point to look like the rest of overdeveloped Orange County, then now is the time to make your voice heard. Public meetings will soon be announced and I urge all who care to make their voice heard.

CLIFF WASSMANN

Dana Point

* If the Dana Point Headlands development is allowed at any significant proportion of its $800-million cost, a requirement should be the contribution of the cost of a public parking structure at Dana Point Harbor. We are already suffering weekend and summer gridlock as the result of inadequate planning and pending lease negotiations that are threatening expensive pay parking to the detriment of visitors, users and local business.

MR. and MRS. GERALD ANANI

Dana Point

* Many people are concerned about the over-development of the Headlands.

The developer should be required to make an 8-foot by 10-foot model, to scale, and display it in the Dana Point post office for the public to see. This should be done now before the Specific Plan is approved.

City Council and the developer make it sound like a beautiful open development. But if you read the detailed descriptions in the three voluminous books describing the project, which only one person in 1,000 will do, you will find it is jampacked with houses and commercial buildings, but no public roads and very little open space.

Please write a letter to the City Council (33282 Street of the Golden Lantern, Suite 210, Dana Point, Calif. 92629) asking for the 8-by-10 model.

JOYCE CAIN

Dana Point