CA Coastal Comm'n -- With LB Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal No Longer A Voting Alternate Member -- Approves Sierra Suites (Pike Area) Hotel With Nearly $1 Million "In Lieu" Fee Opposed by DDR; City Staffer Argues Against Fee, Hopes "In Attempt To Preserve Low Cost Accommodations You Don't Kill This Hotel Deal"
(Dec. 9, 2009, follow on previous) -- The CA Coastal Commission supported a recommendation by its staff and LB City Hall and approved an amendment to the local coastal plan permitting a Sierra Suites Hotel at the Pike...but also approved a staff-recommended payment of an "in lieu" fee (mitigation to provide affordable coastal accommodations) opposed by Pike operator DDR and the hotel developer (Lodgeworks).
Coastal Comm'n webcast screensave
The vote to approve the coastal plan amendment was 11-1 (Burke dissenting) and the vote to approve the hotel with the requirement of an "in lieu" fee was 12-0.
LBReport.com news consumers saw and heard live video of the Coastal Commission proceedings via a webcast from San Francisco.
An advocate for DDR (Pike operator) said LB has been "reinventing" itself over the past few years and has worked to bring "energy" to the Shoreline area with the Aquarium and the Pike project...and said the hotel is part of this. Regarding the in lieu fee, another rep said its survey of hotel room rates showed prices were being discounted considerably...and said rpom revenues for the hotel operator are significantly lower than an appraisal predicted two years ago. A DDR rep estimated the in-lieu fee cost would cost nearly $1 million...and said that with the downturn in the economy, hotel rates are already at the affordable level.
LB city staffer Derek Burnham -- speaking on behalf of City of Long Beach -- stated, "I would echo the opposition to the fee and I would hope that in your attempt to preserve low cost accommodations that you don't kill this hotel deal in the process of doing that, because I believe it is important to the City and it is important to the waterfront of Long Beach."
Representatives of Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community travelled to San Francisco to take part in the proceedings. CSULB Professor Gary Hytrek said that although downtown LB is cleaner and safer and has events, he said "this development has been paid for by deepening inequalities and environmental decay...The entire downtown coastal area has sprouted a large number of high rise condos and high end boutique hotels over the last seven years. My greatest fear is that Long Beach will follow the same development trajectory as witnessed in many other places: an over-emphasis on certain kinds of tourism and a coast that's inaccessible to its residents...a private playground for the few."
Several Coastal Commission members indicated the economic downturn, a temporary condition (they said), shouldn't be the basis for avoiding the Commission policy of in lieu fees. A Sierra Club representaive offered similar testimony.
LB Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal did not attend the meeting and was not part of the proceedings. Newly appointed Coastal Commission member/Santa Monica Councilman Richard Bloom was sworn in at the start of this morning's meeting. As reported yesterday (Dec. 8) by LBReport.com CA Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg didn't appoint Councilwoman Lowenthal to fill the vacancy in the Coastal Commission seat (created as Rancho Palos Verdes Councilman Larry Clark left office).
As TheDistrictWeekly.com's Dave Wielenga has separately reported, the issue in November was a proposed Local Coastal Plan (LCP) amendment for the hotel...and immediately after the clerk announced the item, Lowenthal made a successful motion to postpone it for one month.
Earlier in the meeting, the Coastal Commission defeated a motion (4-7, 1 abstaining) to continue the Sierra Suites "Pike" hotel item so it could be heard (actually re-heard) in So. Cal. Coastal Commissioner Dr. Wm. Burke said he'd received a communication from Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga's office that indicated she'd been inundated with requests to have the item heard in southern CA. City staffer Derek Burnham testified in support of the Commission hearing the item in SF; a rep. of DDR (operates Pike development) told the Commission that the hotel developer is facing a financing deadline.
Some Commissioners voiced concerns about where the "in lieu" fees go; Commission staff said it didn't have the information instantly available, but would pull the information together for a future Coastal Commission discussion.
