Hotel idea for peninsula lacks potential for success

There are many reasons not to put a 110- to 150-room hotel in the

Marinapark mobile home park area.

For starters, this land is designated in the Newport Beach general

plan as public parkland, not for commercial use. So the first

question is how our city officials can turn $90 million (market

value) in public parkland over to a developer for his personal

enrichment instead of for what the general plan states it to be: a

park for the public’s use and enjoyment.

Next, it is not economically justifiable. No hotel/motel has ever

been successful on the peninsula, and especially since Sept. 11;

hotels have proven to be poor investments.

Keeping the mobile home park and maintaining the parklands area

for the public makes sense. Rents can be negotiated and adjusted

whereby the lessees and the city find mutual agreement. The city can

realize as good or better lease and tax revenues than the

unpredictable projections of a hotel project.

Third are the social/community impacts that such a poorly placed

development would cause in this area. Two major impacts are truck

traffic and parking. An additional 30 to 40 trucks per day for food

service, laundry, trash and other services would be added to the

already congested traffic situation that exists during the high

season (summer) and on weekends year-round. Second, the parking

impact to this area would be huge. A five-star hotel requires three

hotel staff per room (for maids, food service, office). Based on 110

rooms, this equals 330 staff potentially, requiring parking. Now add

to this 100 or more vehicles for hotel guests needing parking. Even

if the hotel were to achieve the head-in-the-clouds ratings and

occupancies projected, where are these people going to park? The end

result is hotel guest and truck traffic driving underneath someone’s

window in this residential area.

Finally, there is the beach access issue. Presently, this beach

area is available and easily accessible for windsurfing, sailing and

other aquatic activities. However, building a resort hotel on this

site, one need only look across the bay at the Balboa Bay Club to

grasp how the public is not only restricted but uninvited to use the

beach.

As designated public parkland, this area could be further

developed for recreational/cultural uses, similar to what has been

successfully achieved at the Newport Aquatic Center, Newport Nautical

Museum, the OASIS Senior Center, Upper Bay Ecological Center and the

developing Orange County River Park -- all highly successful projects

in terms of community enrichment.

The obvious yet poignant point is that such an intrusion of

commercial development into this peninsula residential community will

forever change the quality of life there. As residents and

stakeholders of Newport Beach’s future, we can work together with our

city representatives to make wise choices to preserve the special

character inherent in our beach community.

TOM BILLINGS

Newport Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Tom Billings is a member of the Greenlight

Steering Committee.