Bill Focus of Intense Lobbying : Legislation: The fate of the old Sand and Sea Club property rests with the governor. It was the focus of a development fight involving plans to build a luxury hotel.

The bill that will decide the fate of the former Sand and Sea Club property on Santa Monica Beach has been sitting on Gov. Pete Wilson’s desk for nearly 30 days, but it has not been gathering dust.

Forces on both sides of the issue have been furiously trying to get the governor’s ear through lobbying efforts that most recently included a trip to Sacramento by Santa Monica City Manager John Jalili.

The Santa Monica City Council has undertaken a major effort to persuade Wilson to veto the bill that would return the site of the private club to state jurisdiction. The property, at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, is operated by the city under a long-term lease with the state. Last year, it became the focus of a bitter development fight involving a proposal by local restaurateur Michael McCarty to build a luxury hotel there.

The bill, which was submitted as an amendment to an appropriations bill for state recreation and parks programs, would pave the way for the return of the property to state jurisdiction. Gov. Wilson has until Monday to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. Santa Monica officials have called on the governor to use his line-item veto power to reject the amendment.

The author of the original parks bill, state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) has lined up with Santa Monica in urging Wilson to veto the amendment. In a letter to the governor, McCorquodale said he was unaware of the facts when his bill was amended and said a veto is in order because the amendment “may inappropriately serve the interests of a single private concern.”

But the author of the amendment, state Sen. Robert Presley, (D-Riverside), has launched a counterattack. Presley inserted the amendment pertaining to the Sand and Sea site at McCarty’s request last month, as the legislative session was ending.

In a strongly worded letter dated Sept. 30, Presley asked Wilson to sign the bill pertaining to the Sand and Sea property because the city acted illegally in placing the matter before the voters, who should have no say over state parklands.

“Ceding control over land use decisions affecting state property to Santa Monica sets an entirely inappropriate precedent,” Presley wrote.

If Presley’s amendment is approved, McCarty would have another crack at building his hotel project. McCarty had been selected as the developer for the site by the City Council but was rebuffed last year by Santa Monica voters who did not want a hotel on the public beach. The narrow support for the hotel on the council was predicated on voter approval, which McCarty said at the time he welcomed.

After losing the vote, McCarty filed a claim against the city for breach of contract. Since then, he has remained in the background, and the Presley amendment took city officials and the city’s assemblyman, Democrat Tom Hayden, by surprise. Hayden has been working to get Wilson to veto the bill.

McCarty, owner of Michael’s restaurant in Santa Monica, hired a lobbyist who got Presley to put the matter in the appropriations bill, which was immediately passed by the Senate.

The amendment called for a study of whether Santa Monica was living up to its lease agreement with the state, the first step toward placing the land under state control.

Presley said the city was failing to generate enough revenue with the property for the beach fund, which is used for beach upkeep. He also claimed that the city has been too slow to provide full public access at the site.

Santa Monica is finishing a renovation project undertaken just after the hotel was rejected by voters last fall. Portions of the property are open to the public, with full access expected shortly.

Jalili responded to Presley’s attack with a letter and a visit to Sacramento to correct what he called misinformation in the Presley letter. For starters, the state does not stand to gain instant profits from the land but instead will immediately incur $500,000 in annual beach operating costs if it takes back the property--operating costs now being picked up by Santa Monica. It would take years for any project to be approved and begin to generate revenue, Jalili said.

Jalili said in an interview that the city cannot be faulted for a delay in evicting the private Sand and Sea Club, as Presley suggests, because the club was able to remain in place for years because of lobbying efforts in Sacramento.

As for Presley’s claim that the city breached a contract with McCarty, Jalili provided the governor’s office with a videotape of McCarty from a City Council meeting during which he volunteered to take his project before the voters.