COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

Over the last several weeks, since the announcement of our plans for a

major destination resort hotel at the Newport Dunes Resort, your paper

has carried very informative and valuable news articles, and a number of

letters to the editor, that have expressed both support and opposition to

the plan.

We feel your reporters have been fair and diligent, and we respect the

thoughtful concern of the residents who have written in opposition.

Unfortunately, as is often the case in public policy discussions, errors

of fact find their way to print, and unless corrected, tend to become

permanent misconceptions.

I would like to try to correct some of these misconceptions, or at least

come at them from our own point of view, before they become legend.

Location: The Newport Dunes Resort is the perfect place for Newport’s

grand resort hotel. It will be on the sand, at the edge of the lagoon, in

an area that is already an intensely used recreational center for the

community. It will give visitors easy access to the city’s beaches,

retail shops and restaurants, without disturbing residential areas.

Bayside Drive was always planned to be the main entrance to the hotel. We

are working with our neighbors at Bayside Village to improve their

environment, their village entrance and their security.

Quality of life: The hotel will provides a wonderful resort venue for all

Newport Beach residents, their families and their visitors. The

conference and event facilities will allow major charitable and cultural

events to be held here, instead of in Anaheim or Irvine.

Traffic impact: Much has been made of the increased traffic impact, and,

indeed, we will add to the traffic numbers, much as Dover Shores, Sea

Island, Linda Isle, and every other beautiful part of our community does.

The difference is that our traffic is not on the road at peak hours or

commuting hours. As with the typical resort, our check-in time is 3 p.m.

and our checkout time is noon. Our guests are simply not going to be on

the road at rush hour. While we will add to the traffic numbers, we will

add very little to the traffic problem.

Financial: We are prepared to invest $100 million in this destination

resort hotel. In addition to becoming a beautiful landmark site for

Newport Beach, it will provide more than $1.25 million in net revenue to

the city treasury every year. That is according to a study by the city,

not us. Please understand that this is income to the city over and above

all costs or expenses that may be incurred for the hotel. In addition, it

will generate more than $25 million to the retail businesses,

restaurants, and theaters of our community. And those are tourism

industry numbers, not ours.

Environmental: One writer referred to the site as an “environmentally

sensitive” piece of land. It is not. In fact, it has been used as a

dredge spoils, i.e., its received mud from the bay and been a dump basin

for the county.

Views: Several writers seem confused about the location and think we will

be blocking ocean views. We will not. We are in a low pocket of land,

below Pacific Coast Highway. Promontory Point and Castaways look down on

us. The only views that will be blocked will be those from our own

beachfront recreation area. And that’s not much of a view anyway.

Over the years, the Newport Dunes Resort has been a good neighbor, and

very much involved in the life of our city. As a private business

enterprise, we have tried to run a successful resort and to be generous

and fair in our relationships with our community. We hope and expect that

the community will, in turn, be fair in its assessment of us.

Just one other thing. In answer to the most often asked questions: YES,

the Fourth of July fireworks show will continue, and YES, the Girl Scouts

will still have a campground at the Dunes, as they always have.

TIM QUINN

Project manager

The Dunes Resort Hotel