Developer chosen for Marinapark changes

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Tempers erupted on both sides of the dais as City

Council members pondered the future of Balboa Peninsula’s Marinapark at

Tuesday night’s meeting.

In the end, after two hours of discussion and emotional appeals from

more than a dozen members of American Legion Post 291, area residents and

a Girl Scouts representative, council members unanimously voted to enter

exclusive negotiations with a developer proposing a $30-million luxury

hotel for the site.

While the decision does not mean council members have formally

approved the project, it limits further discussion to a single developer

for the time being.

The city also had received eight proposals from other groups, but only

Newport Beach-based Sutherland Talla Hospitality had submitted a complete

package by a July 17 deadline.

“I think the peninsula needs a shot in the arm and this is the shot,”

said Councilman Gary Adams, praising the proposed five-star resort as a

“gorgeous facility.”

“I see this as something that we can be proud of,” he said.The project

would include 156 rooms in 18 Italian-style villas, as well as two

vintage 1950s yachts with luxury suites. Also proposed are a spa, tennis,

sailing and rowing clubs, and shops and restaurants.

The city could earn as much as $30 million in lease payments, hotel

taxes and food and beverage taxes over the first decade, according to the

proposal.

But council members made it clear that without consent from the

American Legion, the plan would fail.

“If the American Legion doesn’t go along with this, it ain’t gonna

happen,” Mayor John Noyes told Stephen P. Sutherland, a principal planner

with Sutherland Talla Hospitality.

Earlier, American Legionnaires had protested development proposals for

Marinapark that would move the group’s hall.

“When no legionnaires are left, then and only then is the city of

Newport Beach allowed to reclaim the property,” said Mike Johnston, a

member of the legion, adding that he’d heard rumors that the post’s

removal had already been approved tacitly.

In an emotional response, Councilwoman Jan Debay vehemently denied

that she and her colleagues planned to expel the Legion from Marinapark.

“I don’t like the idea that this council is setting up to do wrong to

the legion,” she said, adding that while she did not serve in the

military, she held veterans in high regard. Her father had left the

family to join the Army Air Corps when she was 4 years old, she said.

Sutherland’s plan would include a new home for the legion at a

different location on the site. In a letter of intent to the City

Council, Sutherland promised to pay for the new building and rent the

space to the legion for $1 per year.

“We want to stay exactly were we are,” said Dennis Lahey, the post’s

commander. “And we want a long-term lease. Many of us marched for our

country in the past. We did not really want to then and we do not want to

march now. But if we need to march to save our home, we will.”

Under the current proposal, the legion would lose its marina and yacht

club. Council members told Sutherland to consider sharing the hotel’s

marina with the legion.

Sutherland’s proposal keeps the Girl Scout facility in its place.

Residents of the Marinapark Mobile Home Park would have to vacate the

land if the project becomes reality. In February, the council extended

the lease for the mobile homes for another two years.

Before developers could get the go-ahead for the project, it would

require a General Plan amendment, environmental impact review, approval

by the state Coastal Commission as well as the Newport Beach Planning

Commission and the council, said City Manager Homer Bludau.

But before negotiations with city officials go any further, Sutherland

Talla Hospitality also must reach an agreement with the American Legion.

After the meeting, Lahey said he was open to discussions.

“We will do everything that’s right for the facility and our members,”

he said. “I don’t know whether we can work something out. But we will be

very open-minded.”

Councilman Tod Ridgeway abstained from the vote due to a possible

conflict of interest.