Hotel Resort at Marineland Site Gets Go-Ahead
Four years after Marineland was closed, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council has given the go-ahead to a developer to build a 450-room hotel and resort on the site of the former aquatic park.
Over the objections of environmentalists hoping to stave off large commercial developments on the rugged Palos Verdes Peninsula coastline, council members Tuesday unanimously voted to allow Arizona developer James Monaghan to proceed with the facility.
“I think this is what the community has said that it wants,” Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach said, adding that the complex should provide a focal point for the city and jobs for area youngsters.
The 102-acre site is one of the last large oceanfront parcels left for development in Los Angeles County. Monaghan purchased the property from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich after the publishing company closed the local landmark and trucked its killer whales and dolphins to other aquatic parks.
Members of the grass-roots group Save Our Coastline 2000 contend that the city’s own development guidelines prohibit the construction of a resort on the coast. The group has vowed to appeal the council’s decision to the state Coastal Commission.
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