Council will take closer look at Marinapark

June Casagrande

A three-member council subcommittee will form to examine plans for a

hotel at Marinapark, the City Council decided Tuesday, but not before

even the routine process of creating the committee threatened to get

heated as opponents and supporters of the project faced off.

Most salient was the question of whether Greenlight should be

represented on the council subcommittee. Mayor Steve Bromberg, who

came up with the idea to create the subcommittee, nominated himself

and Councilmen Tod Ridgeway and Don Webb.

Councilman John Heffernan suggested that at least one Greenlight

council member should be on the subcommittee. Bromberg quickly

retorted that Webb was added to the subcommittee specifically at the

request of Greenlight Committee representative Tom Hyans.

Ridgeway is on record as being supportive of the project, Webb has

opposed it, and Bromberg describes himself as “on the fence.”

“So you’ve got one person for it, one against it and one on the

fence. I’d say that sounds like a very good committee,” Bromberg

said.

Though Greenlight has not taken a position on the hotel project,

Greenlight steering committee members Hyans and Tom Billings have

publicly opposed it.

Resident Dolores Otting asked council members to open up the

meetings to the public or allow resident participation.

“It looks like a stacked deck,” Otting said.

Bromberg answered that the body will have no decision-making

powers and that its findings will be reported in a public forum.

Council subcommittees customarily include only council members

and, though they often advise the council, they do not have the power

to make final decisions on city business.

“There have been a number of revisions to this project, and we’re

just going to sit down and review it,” Bromberg said. “All we’re

going to do is look at the documents, review them, and then we’re

going to report back to the public.”

Sutherland Talla Hospitality has proposed to build the 110-room

luxury resort at the site of the existing Marinapark mobile home park

and Las Arenas Park. The company has scaled back the number of rooms

-- originally 156 -- and added open spaces that offer ocean views

from the street in hopes of winning residents’ support. The matter

could end up on a ballot.