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Dana Point & Headlands Owners
DANA POINT-On May 25th, the Dana Point City Council
decided to postpone its vote on the general plan amendment pertaining
to the Headlands property, for the third time. This time, however,
City Attorney Michele Vadon made the Council's reasons public.
"For the past few weeks, two representatives of the City
Council, Mayor Ruby Netzley and Councilman Wayne Rayfield, have
been in exploratory discussions with the Headlands owners…"
The discussion centers on the possibility of mediating a settlement
on the zoning plans for the coveted 121-acre bluff property, which
has been a source of controversy in Dana Point since 1994.
The news was greeted with a mixed reaction, due largely to years
of infighting and disillusionment with the planning process in
Dana Point. One resident, who criticized the city's plan to adopt
a general plan amendment to circumvent the owners plans, endorsed
the exploratory talks. "I encourage you to continue the
process for the benefit of all of us," resident George Munson
said. Ed Gallagher, on the other hand, who recently wrote an
editorial for the Dana Point News in favor of negotiations between
the City and the landowners, said that he is now skeptical of
the value of mediation on the Headlands issue.
The City Council voted 4 to 1 in executive session to continue
the discussions, with Mayor Netzley the sole dissenting vote.
As a result, the City Council's next opportunity to vote on the
amendment will be the first meeting in July. The amendment to
the general plan would stop the property owners from developing
their plan, in favor of a plan that the city developed without
input from the owners. So that, in effect, the city would be
imposing a development plan on the owners. The issue is complicated
further by the fact that last year a Superior Court judge ordered
the city to stop working on its own plan, and to begin processing
the owners plan. The judge said the city could not approve its
specific plan and the general plan amendment at the same time,
as it was attempting to do. The owners, for their part, reportedly
expressed the fact that they are frustrated by the efforts of
the City to take over development of their property, and if the
City succeeds in making development impossible, they may bring
an action that charges the City with unlawfully "taking"
their property. Another point of confusion for local residents is the fact that there has been a change of faces among the owners of the Headlands. The Chandler family tired from the political intrigue, and the community warfare, and sold out their interests to Headlands Reserve, LLC. The M. H. Sherman Company is still owner of half of the property, but the plans for the property have changed along with the ownership interests, which has gone largely unnoticed by those residents who are determined to thwart any development on the Headlands. Additionally, there have been private agendas on the part of the Councilmembers. One of the proposals made by the owners has been to locate a veterans' memorial above the harbor, which the mayor does not want to see built. SOURCE: Information for this article is derived from the 27 May, 1999, issue of the Dana Point News, owned by the Orange Co. Register. |
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