Beach Club Proposal Is Seen, Tabled By Council

Peggy Clifford
Mirror Editor

415, formerly known as the Sand and Sea Club, on Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica has been shut down and fenced in since the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
   A Working Group, appointed by the City Council, spent a year developing a proposed plan for the unique complex, completing its work in April, 1998. The Group’s "Recommended Site Use Plan" was reviewed and approved by all the requisite City boards and commissions, displayed at public hearings and published in an elegant booklet with four-color renderings.
   Finally, last night, 14 months after its completion, the 415 Plan was scheduled to be reviewed and approved by the Council.
   But, about midnight, following an extended hearing on a new street performers’ ordinance—which was eventually passed back to the City Attorney for additions and corrections, the Council stalled out.
   Someone suggested they put the 415 Plan off until September, but, after a brief discussion, they decided on a slightly skewed sequence. Two members of the public who signed up to speak about the Plan would be heard, then the Council would go into closed session, following which they would return to the Council chambers to hear the staff recommendation of the Plan, but they would continue the item to next week’s meeting.
   And so, at 1:35 a.m., after an extended closed session, and fourteen months, the Council had its official introduction to the Plan.
   Actual work on the project is not expected to begin for several years.

Recommended Plan

The proposal combines existing “site elements” with new elements in what the Working Group describes as a “hybrid scheme. “ The existing "site elements," meaning portions of the original Marion Davies' estate, as well as structures added in the 1940s when the estate was converted into a hotel, include the North House, the estate guest house, the swimming pool, a fence and retaining wall and a banquet building, locker building, cabanas and parking sheds.
   Among the alternative plans considered by the Group and rejected were a public park "devoted to gardens and contemplative park uses," a recreational park "devoted to "courts and fields for active recreation," a meeting center "dedicated to organized meetings, conferences or educational facilities," and a public beach club "oriented toward day and month passes...(with) cabanas, a pool area, paddle tennis courts, meeting and banquet space, concessions and locker rooms."
   According to the Group, either park would "require large operational subsidies from the City," the meeting center would make money for the City and the beach club would support itself.
   The "recommended scheme... combine(s) several of the more public components of the alternatives with a revenue-generating use (Banquet Center.). The important historical buildings and elements have been retained, and there is an emphasis on public open space and beach access."
   In this scheme, the North House would become a "meeting facility," the main locker building would be converted into a banquet hall, the swimming pool would be restored and a children's wading pool would be added. In addition, a palm-lined promenade would "denote the beach edge of the site," widening at the southern edge to form a "Beach Square." A new "Visitor Center," restrooms and concession stands would be built. Capital costs for the project were estimated in April, 1998 at $2.5 million.