American Legion Post is sitting pretty

With another year comes perhaps another Greenlight vote in Newport

Beach. Developer Stephen Sutherland would like to build a new luxury

resort on Balboa Peninsula at the Marinapark mobile home park and

recently announced that the American Legion Post 291 site would be left

untouched.

The City Council has said, and Sutherland agrees, that he needs the

legion’s blessing before the project can go anywhere. Sutherland hopes

the project will make the Nov. 5 ballot.

On Thursday, Assistant City Editor James Meier sat down with the

legion’s commander, J.T. Tarwater, to discuss the project and the

legion’s desire to extend its year-to-year lease with the city to about

50 years.

Q: What would be the ideal turnout when it comes to the Marinapark

luxury resort proposal?

A: They’ve already agreed they’re leaving us alone, so that’s the

ultimate for us. We, as legionnaires, are not political, so we can’t get

really involved whether we’re for a hotel or against a hotel.

Individually, we surely can, but, as a commander, I can’t say what the

legion is for or against. That’s just a policy that we have, that we

don’t get into the politics, which is a good thing.

Q: Now, individually, would you say whether you support the project?

A: I don’t really know at this time. Until I really see what they’re

going to do and what happens, it’s tough to say. It’s changed probably

five times since they started, so I don’t know what it’ll wind up being

if it ever is.

Q: The City Council told the developer he needs the legionnaires’

support, which of course puts the legion in a great spot. How does that

make you feel, having that city support?

A: Oh, I think it’s great. Of course we’ve got not only the government

of the city, but the residents of the city are all in favor of the

legion. We just do so much community service work.

Q: What is the process for gaining the legion’s support? Who in the

legion would make that decision?

A: The general membership, which is 2,040 voting members strong.

Q: When that time comes, how would you go about that?

A: We’ll probably just advertise the fact that we’re going to have a

vote on it, and whoever shows up votes. Everything has to be done in

person at the legion. There’s no proxies.

Q: Were you looking forward to a new legion hall with double the

parking?

A: It would have been nice, but I personally don’t think that he could

deliver what he promised. I don’t think that it was feasible. To build a

new marina in this harbor would probably take 10 years of approvals, if

you even got it. There are certain things that the [California] Coastal

Commission, as we all know, gets involved in, and they usually act very

slow and methodical and usually don’t want a lot more growth in here.

Q: At this point, you probably won’t be able to say, but does it

appear as if the legion is leaning toward or against supporting the

project?

A: Actually, you’re right, at this point, we’re saying nothing. My

main goal is to get a long-term lease signed for us here. Once we get

that, then we can go on to something else. Until we get a long-term

lease, it’s not in our best interest to go either way.

Q: How much longer will it be until you nail down that long-term

lease?

A: We are supposed to have a rough draft of the lease in approximately

two weeks. We will evaluate it rapidly, so we can get it done.

Q: Who’s involved in those negotiations besides the city and yourself?

A: Myself, Dennis Lahey and Greg Petersen. There’s three of us who are

handling the initial negotiations. Once we get it down to where we want

it and where we think it’s going to work, then we’ll get the executive

board to look at it and approve it. From there, we’ll have the general

membership approve it, and then we’ll sign it.

Q: Right now, you’re working on a 50-year lease?

A: Yes.

Q: And will that be similar to what you have now, where you pay $1 a

year?

A: It’s never been $1 a year. All the newspaper articles say $1 a

year, and that’s not true. We pay, and it varies because it’s all based

on percentages, probably in the neighborhood of $110,000 a year.

Q: Where did that $1 come from?

A: That’s what we’re proposing to pay.

Q: Where does that $110,000 come from?

A: The marina rents. We pay them for parking, so the parking lot. We

pay a fee for the hall being here even though we built it. We also built

the marina.

It just seems like it’s way too much money for a veterans

organization. It’s money we could use in much better ways than the city.

With the veterans hospital, veterans charities and all the work that we

do, that money could be much more effective than going in the city

coffers.

Q: If you have to raise $110,000 for that, you probably don’t have too

much left over for anything else you do want to do right now.

A: We do a lot of fund-raisers -- parties, raffles, different things

-- to get money to support the veterans hospital and all the other

charities that we support.

Of course the city uses our hall for nothing; they have meetings and

different groups, like the Parks and Recreations Department will have a

retirement dinner or business meetings when they want to get away from

City Hall. Newport Harbor High School uses it for their football

banquets. The Girl Scouts use it. You know, a lot of community people

that we don’t charge. So we feel that is worth something to get our rent

lowered.

Q: What are your personal thoughts on the Greenlight Initiative?

A: I don’t really know. I think we have too much traffic down here.

Just try driving up and down on a Saturday afternoon. The reason that

worries me about the traffic is the emergency care. If the streets are

all full of cars and it’s all backed up and someone down six blocks from

here has a heart attack at home, it’s a little difficult to get the

paramedics there or firetrucks or whatever we need. That’s my main

concern.

And of course Newport’s an older city, and we have a lot of elderly

people that probably need that care really bad.

Q: Are you pleased with the process so far?

A: So far I am. We’re further along than we’ve ever been. The City

Council has voted many times to begin immediate negotiations with us and

never did, so at least we are sitting down and talking to them now, and

we’re hammering out details. And, like I said, we should have the rough

draft in two weeks. I’m very optimistic.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: I just hope we get it done soon so we can get on to doing what

we’re doing. I’d just like to say that, as the commander here, I

definitely appreciate all the citizens’ support for us. A lot of them

have stepped up to the plate at City Council meetings and petitions and

things to help us. We really appreciate that.

BIO

Name: J.T. Tarwater

Birthplace: Kansas City, Mo.

Age: 59

Residence: Newport Beach, six years

Title: Commander of American Legion Post 291

Occupation: General contractor for 25 years

Military service: Army, 1960 to 1962

Family: Daughter Kim, sons John and Mark, and two grandchildren

Hobbies: Boating