Vol. 1, Issue 1, February 8-14, 2008
By Mark Garcia
Dana Point Times
Plan is among a number of renovations going on in the city
Even before its incorporation in 1989, Dana Point has had an identity crisis. Forever a sleepy little beach town, its geography—too far south from the glitter of Hollywood and too far north to draw from San Diego—has slowed its development as a place of destination. Even namesake Richard Henry Dana didn’t stay long. He called the place beautiful and then left.
The city is home to upscale hotels such as St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa, the Ritz-Carlton and the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort and Spa. But keeping those visitors in town to eat and shop…well, that’s been a problem. Studies have shown the city loses $500,000 in retail sales tax each year because residents and tourists eat and shop elsewhere.
The reason? Some may argue it’s because things haven’t changed much in Dana Point since Dana parked his ship, the Pilgrim, in 1835. Many in town like it that way.
But Dana Point is changing, and is doing so rapidly. There’s a $155 million renovation project going on at its Harbor, and a multimillion-dollar development on its prestigious headlands.
But nothing has garnered more attention—and time—than the city’s $20 million Town Center project, which aims at renovating its roughly 1-mile village to attract tourist dollars and create a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly downtown area enclosed by Pacific Coast Highway and Del Prado Avenue, from Blue Lantern to Copper Lantern, as well as La Plaza Street.
City officials laud it. Business owners can’t wait for it. Developers are salivating over it. And, for the most part, residents are excited about it. “Things are moving forward, and that’s a very good thing,” said Wayne Rayfield, Town Center Subcommittee chairman and former mayor. The new plan includes allowing three-story buildings with retail shops and residential homes, two-way traffic on both PCH and Del Prado, wider sidewalks, additional parking and lighter parking restrictions and provisions for public art. “We want to make sure people can get the goods and services they want,” City Manager Doug Chotkevys said. “We want them to ask, ‘Why would we ever want to leave Dana Point?’”
Forging such a plan has been a long process, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the city is comprised of such fractious neighborhoods as Capistrano Beach, Monarch Beach, downtown and the Harbor. But after three years and 30 public meetings it’s happened. And now it’s up to the California Coastal Commission to see it come to fruition.
“There’s a lot of great things happening,” said Mayor Joel Bishop. “Hopefully the Coastal Commission will give us a thumbs up [this spring]. After that, things are going to be on fire around here.”
If things will be on fire then, it’s smoldering now. Last April, DBN Development, LLC of Laguna Hills announced it is moving forward with plans to build 22 homes with ocean and mountain views on top of 13,000 square feet of retail where the Dana Marina Motel (34111 PCH) currently stands. The property will also include two restaurants, retail space, a paseo, plaza, ocean-view terrace and underground parking.
Bob Theel, a 34-year Dana Point resident, announced he plans on developing what is currently a vacant lot on the corner of Old Golden Lantern and Del Prado. And his plan is textbook in regards to what the city would like to see: a 40-foot-high, three-story building with retail on the first floor, residential housing on the second and third, as well as two levels of underground parking.
“I think [the Town Center plan] is not only a great opportunity for developers, but it will create excitement for residents as well,” said Theel. “Over the next four to five years, you’re going to see commercial space that will serve the residents and create places where you can go to downtown.
“Right now, we don’t have places in downtown that residents can gravitate to. There are a lot of people in Dana Point, but you don’t see them in the Town Center. That’s going to change.”
Unlike most projects in Dana Point, change is coming quickly in the commercial real estate world. According to Lantern Bay Realty founder Joe Lovullo, many developers have bought property in town in anticipation of the Town Center plan getting approved. Lovullo added prices have spiked to up to $200 per square foot.
Pascal Le Vettet welcomes a change. Levettee, a 16-year owner of Bonjour Café (24633 Del Prado), says the city has been behind the times for too long. “This [Town Center plan] should’ve happened 20 years ago,” he said. “I feel we have one of the most beautiful cities around, but nothing in the middle to link visitors to what we have. I’m glad to see the city moving in the right direction.”
But not everybody thinks the revitalization of the Town Center is necessarily a good thing. Steve Carey, a 12-year resident who lives on the 24000 block of Santa Clara, a street adjacent to Del Prado, is concerned over the proposed building height and a possible lack of privacy due to the increase in residential units. Carey and a number of Santa Clara residents voiced their displeasure with the plan at numerous Town Center Subcommittee meetings, started a Web site, www.savedp.org, which details their reasons against the plan, and actually submitted a petition signed by 300 residents opposed to the plan.
“There’s a restriction on building height, but not on the increase of the population,” said Carey. “The thought that this plan was a commercial plan was a sales pitch to get people to build. I believe this is more of a residential plan.”
Sales pitch or not, developers are coming, and so is change.
“It’s a good plan,” added Rayfield. “I think it captures the community’s desires. A vast majority of the community is embracing it.”
Street-widening Project to Provide Relief
PCH, Del Obispo intersection will include three lanes, a pedestrian bridge and wall along Doheny State Beach
While the City of Dana Point builds toward the future, it also took a look at its past in an attempt to beautify the eastern entrance to the town.
City Council budgeted $5.8 million in June for the road-widening project that includes widening the intersection of Del Obispo Street and Pacific Coast Highway to three lanes, eliminating the crosswalk on the east side of Del Obispo and replacing it with a pedestrian bridge, constructing a new bus stop on the east side of the intersection, constructing a sidewalk along the east side of PCH, and rebuilding an historical wall along the highway on Doheny State Beach property.
The project was approved by the Planning Commission in November 2006 and by the California Coastal Commission in March 2007. The review and approval of the construction contract is scheduled to be voted on at the next City Council meeting, February 19, while the city will take bids on the contract beginning Monday, said Public Works and Engineering Services Director Brad Fowler.
Fowler said relief is greatly needed at the intersection, especially considering additional traffic volume is expected due to the Harbor Revitalization, the Headlands and Town Center developments, and the possible commercialization of the property that was once the Dana Point Estates Mobile Home Park.
“[PCH and Del Obispo] is the worst intersection in town for congestion,” said Fowler. “This [project] will relieve traffic and will get pedestrians across PCH and over the street more safely.”
The city took ownership of PCH—from San Juan creek to Crown Valley Parkway—from California Department of Transportation in 2006, which has allowed the project to commence.
In order to construct the overcrossing, the city met with members of the State of California Parks and Recreation Department—which owns the property on the south side of PCH just east of Dana Point Harbor Drive—to confirm the proposal was acceptable. As conditions, the state proposed the city replace the aged fence along Doheny State Beach with a historical wall and screen the view of the park’s maintenance yard as best as the city can. The wall will go along PCH from Dana Point Harbor Drive to San Juan Creek. In the 1930s, an adobe wall was built at the entrance of Doheny State Beach as a Great Depression employment project. A 40-yard-wide, 3-foot high portion of the original wall still remains directly across from DoubleTree Hotel.
—MG