Facing an audience full of senior citizens, the Manhattan Beach City Council unanimously chose Tuesday night to table an item that would have sought proposals from hotel developers for a site near older-adult housing.
The agenda item asked the council to reconsider uses for a city-owned parking lot that sits behind the Manhattan Village Mall, on Parkview Avenue, between the Manhattan Senior Villas and a soccer field. Sixteen seniors arrived at the City Council meeting, some using the Dial-a-Ride service, to make their opposition clear.
“Remember which segment of the population actually votes,” said Janet Murphy, speaking on behalf of the 16. “I urge you all to kill this bill if you wish to hold onto your seat or aspire to higher office.”
The council had previously hired a real estate consultant to assess potential alternatives for the parking lot. In addition to supporting the soccer field, the lot is sometimes leased to the Village and to the nearby country club for overflow parking, bringing in $162,5000 in annual revenue.
The consultant considered a variety of alternatives for the land, including a park, an additional sports field, office space and a hotel. Incorporating the foregone dollars from the parking lease, only the hotel and an apartment complex would have generated revenue, with the hotel the more remunerative option.
City staff then asked various hotel developers to present qualifications to develop the site. Among those expressing interest were the Hyatt corporation, which had suggested building a boutique hotel from its Hyatt Centric line, and the Zislis Group, operators of the local Shade Hotel.
But such a project had been controversial from the beginning. The lot and the surrounding area were once a Chevron oil tank farm, and were donated to the city in the 1970s. Questions remain about environmental impacts in the soil, especially at depths below six feet, as could be required for structural support or underground parking.
Additionally, legal questions surround the project. Tom Corley, a co-owner of the Senior Villas, said the land had been dedicated in the 1970s for “park purposes” under the Quimby Act, which gives parkland the highest priority of uses for public land. (Corley was the Community Development Direct in Manhattan at the time of Chevron’s bequest, and oversaw initial land use planning for the area.) Although the land was a parking lot, it serves as a playing field, Corley said, and he intended to sue if the project went forward.
“No seniors have said anything, but we hear rumblings: people would move out [if a hotel were approved],” Corley said.
City Attorney Quinn Barrow disputed that the site was legally encumbered. He acknowledged the site’s complex history, but said a rezoning of the land in the 1980s allowed for use as a hotel.
Both the legal and the soil questions remain unresolved. The council’s vote to table the issue halted a more in-depth legal review. And as of Tuesday night, the city was in the process of completing a records-based soils review. Digging and chemical analysis are far more expensive, and would have been paid for by a developer, had the hotel been chosen.
