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.
|