Council to hear Dunes project next week

Noaki Schwartz

NEWPORT BEACH -- The biggest and most controversial development proposal

put before the city in years will fall into the laps of City Council

members Tuesday, marking the beginning of the final leg of a marathon

approval process.

The Dunes Hotel proposal has already made it past the first hurdle after

getting a thumbs-up from the Planning Commission on April 22.

But the project, a 470-unit hotel and time-share resort, did not come

through unscathed. Wary of its mammoth size, and location next to the

environmentally sensitive Back Bay, commissioners slapped on more than 30

noise and space restrictions.

“We’re very optimistic, based on unanimous planning commissioners’

approval and support we know is out there in the community,” said Robert

Gleason, chief financial officer for Evans Hotels, the group that hopes

to build the Dunes project.

Despite the revisions, the four-star resort would still be one of the

city’s largest hotels, with 470 rooms in a four-story building and a

31,000-square-foot conference center, as well as swimming pools, a health

spa and restaurants.

It is estimated that the project would bring more than $1.4 million a

year in sales tax to the city. If approved, the resort is scheduled to

open within the next three to five years.

“I think the Planning Commission did a good job minimizing the impacts

and I’ll be anxious to take a closer look at it,” said Councilman Gary

Adams, who estimated that it would probably take two council meetings

before a final decision was made.

While Dunes planners and commissioners were satisfied with the results,

local environmentalists were appalled that the hotel was one step closer

to reality next to Upper Newport Bay.

The project has also become a political lightning rod for a slow-growth

political group called Greenlight.

The group of community activists is in the process of promoting a measure

that would allow residents to have the final say on developments that

require a major general plan amendment.

Greenlight supporters have been pointing to the Dunes as the primary

example of their belief that city officials lean more toward the needs of

developers than those of residents.

Greenlight member and environmentalist Susan Caustin already has started

preparing for a referendum. Less than two weeks after the project made it

through the Planning Commission, she and resident Bert Ohlig filed papers

to form a political action committee against the hotel.

Should the council approve the project, opponents would have 30 days to

collect 4,600 valid signatures to bring a referendum before voters in

November. The deadline for any referendum on the fall ballot is Aug. 11.

Despite the rumblings, Gleason said he is optimistic the project

eventually will be built.

FYI

* What: City Council meeting on the Dunes Hotel project

* When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

* Where: City Council chambers, 3300 Newport Blvd.