Parks shouldn’t be hotels

The Marinapark hotel development will be on the November ballot as a

measure up for approval or disapproval by the voters.

Remember that Marinapark is a city-owned, public waterfront

property, encompassing eight acres on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport

Beach. This site is designated for recreation and environmental open

space in the city’s general plan. It belongs to you and me -- to the

residents of Newport Beach. So why is our mayor so willing to give

away our public parkland to private development?

In his Aug. 15 Community Commentary in the Pilot, (“City could

never satisfy Greenlight on resort”), Mayor Tod Ridgeway has made a

number of misleading claims for the proposed Marina Park Hotel

development. He claimed that the environmental report for the project

was adequate, as evidenced by the fact that the Planning Commission

had passed it by a unanimous vote.

He did not mention that the environmental report was barely

approved in a 4-3 vote with three council members opposed based on

the evidence presented at the hearings.

As another example, the mayor writes in his commentary: “contrary

to what you may have heard, Marinapark has never been a grassy lawn

with picnic tables or a public boat launching facility -- things

resort opponents seem to prefer to a small luxury hotel.”

It is clear that the mayor, a developer himself, has no problem

visualizing a private timeshare hotel on the property yet finds it so

difficult to visualize a recreation and aquatic park with recreation

facilities, picnic tables, a tots park and a public boat-launching

facility for kayaks, sailboats and small watercraft.

The existing mobile-home park is planned for removal whether you

vote yes or no on Measure L in November, leaving the public with

approximately half a mile of beachfront and five open acres. Whether

you vote yes or no, the remaining acreage is and will continue to be

occupied by the community center, the Girl Scouts, the American

Legion building and basketball and tennis courts.

Ridgeway claims that the projected revenues justify the hotel. Why

does the second richest city in Orange County, with a budget of $178

million and the third richest in revenues per capita, need revenue

from a time-share hotel? The optimistic timeshare hotel projection of

$2.2 million is less than 1.3% of the city budget. In reality it

could be little or no net revenue, because it would take away rooms

that would otherwise have been rented by the Balboa Bay Club &

Resort.

Ridgeway promises that the hotel’s plan will open up access to the

beach and harbor. Could you use the beach in front of the hotel? Just

as much as you use the public beach in front of the Balboa Bay Club.

Same promise, same result. The passage of Measure L will, without

question, limit public beach/bay access to Marinapark.

The developer has repeatedly touted the proposed timeshare hotel

will be a five-star hotel. There are only 35 five-star hotels in all

of the U.S., and they reportedly average three to five employees per

room. The Marinapark hotel has projected one half of an employee per

room. We were not born yesterday; the five-star description is

hyperbole. This brings into question all of the extensive claims

being made for the hotel.

In 2002-03, a city sponsored poll conducted by Godbe Research

found that more than 70% of residents and businesses in Newport Beach

did not want hotels in two specific areas of the city: Marinapark and

Newport Dunes. In addition, our own recreation and open-space

land-use plan has identified a critical need for more public open

space on the peninsula. When is the mayor going to really start

listening to the residents of Newport Beach?

We own eight acres of rare remaining harbor-front public parkland

on the Balboa Peninsula. What legacy will we give our family and

community -- a park or timeshare hotel? Now it’s up to us to vote no

on Measure L to ensure that our public parkland will be available to

all the residents of Newport Beach, not just a few out-of-town guests

willing to pay $400 per night for a room.

* JOSEPH WEAVER, a Newport Beach resident, is a member of Protect

Our Parks, a resident group opposing development at Marinapark.