New plans for Marinapark ready

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Plans for a controversial luxury resort at Marinapark

will be filed with the city on Monday in a second attempt to please

American Legion members now on the land, the developer said.

But that hurdle is just the first of several daunting challenges

facing Stephen Sutherland Co. as it pushes for a 156-room luxury resort

to be built at the Balboa Peninsula site.

When and if plans pass muster with the Legionnaires, then the city

must rule on the proposal. The City Council’s blessing would ultimately

throw the decision to the voters in the form of a Greenlight ballot

measure.

“Without the American Legion support, the project goes nowhere,”

Sutherland said.

Plans call for moving the American Legion Post 291 now on the property

at 15th Street to a new facility the developer will build at the opposite

end of the 10-acre lot. The current hall and a sprawling mobile home park

would be replaced with a resort where the rooms average $350 to $400 a

night.

After one look at the original plans, American Legion representatives

sent Sutherland back to the drawing board, insisting on more parking,

more boat slips and a shower and restroom facility for boaters who use

the marina.

City Council members have said they will not support the project

without the Legionnaires’ blessing, but that could be difficult to get.

“If we get everything we’ve asked for, we still may not get membership

to approve it,” said J.T. Tarwater, commander of the American Legion post

that has about 2,150 voting members. With auxiliary members and Sons of

the American Legion, about 3,500 users of the hall would be affected by

the impending move.

Among the Legionnaires’ demands: The 50 parking spaces for the hall

should be brought to 130. Also, Tarwater said, the developer’s plans to

reduce to 20 the current 50 boat slips won’t fly.

On Monday, Sutherland said, he will submit to city planners the

revisions, which give 100 parking spaces to the American Legion.

“That’s double what they have now,” Sutherland emphasized.

He said that the project will be a jewel of the city, with luxurious

amenities for guests and benefits to residents, too, such as improved

beach access and other facilities.

He added that all the buildings will be either one or two stories

high.

But Sutherland will have an uphill battle selling the plan to

community members. At a public forum in July, residents expressed

passionate concerns about almost every aspect of the project.

On Tuesday, City Council members will consider creating a committee to

renegotiate the American Legion’s lease. Tarwater said that before they

will go along with the development project, Legionnaires need the

security of a longer-term commitment that they can keep some place on the

city-owned property where they’ve sat since 1949.