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Hotel designer quits advisory group

Alicia Robinson

Citing personal attacks by City Council members during the heated

campaign over a resort at Marinapark, hotel designer Stephen

Sutherland has resigned from a city economic development committee.

His resignation comes after 12 years on the committee, which

advises the City Council on economic issues, including attracting and

retaining businesses.

Sutherland was one of the original appointees to the committee,

which the council formed in 1993. Among the committee’s many

recommendations was working with the Fletcher Jones Mercedes

dealership to keep the company’s expansion facility in Newport Beach.

The community likely knows Sutherland better for his proposal to

build a luxury waterfront resort at the Marinapark site, a piece of

city-owned land that now is occupied by a mobile-home park, an

American Legion post and other facilities.

The proposal went to the ballot in November, and supporters and

opponents waged a bitter battle that ended in the defeat of the

Marinapark hotel plan. Accusations were slung by both sides, and

Sutherland said that harsh words from elected officials were the

reason he resigned from the economic development committee.

“As I said in my resignation, this is a committee that makes

recommendations to the City Council, and there are three members of

the City Council that participated in one way or the other in

character assassination, personal attacks [against me] during the

November election,” Sutherland said. “How can I be effective in front

of the City Council?... I just felt it was the best thing for the

economic development committee that I resign.”

Sutherland declined to name the council members he believes

verbally attacked him. Three councilmen -- John Heffernan, Dick

Nichols and Don Webb -- voted against certifying an environmental

report on the project, which many saw as taking a public stance

against the resort project.

Some council members said they’re not aware of any personal

attacks coming from the dais.

“I was kind of surprised at his comments, because I couldn’t

recall any remarks that were inappropriate,” Councilman Steve

Rosansky said. “I know there were some heated discussions at meetings

where residents certainly questioned his integrity.”

The council did question Sutherland’s business background, but any

personal attacks came from residents who opposed the project,

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said.

“I think looking at the credibility of the entity that we’re about

to do business with is a legitimate concern for a city council,”

Ridgeway said.

Nichols echoed Ridgeway’s comments, saying, “I think he’s taking

it as a personal attack that they attacked his financial backer.”

Sutherland at one time was in partnership with D. Michael Talla, who

withdrew from the project at Sutherland’s request because of his

investments in Las Vegas strip clubs.

Mayor Steve Bromberg and Councilmen Heffernan and Webb did not

return calls for comment.

Losing the election in November had nothing to do with the

decision to resign from the economic development committee,

Sutherland said, and the Marinapark issue hasn’t changed his love for

Newport Beach.

Ridgeway and Rosansky said they believe residents have gotten past

the divisiveness of the Marinapark campaign, but others said bad

blood is still circulating in the community.

“I think that everybody felt good when the election was over and

the results were what they were,” Nichols said. “Now the majority [of

the council] is taking off in another direction. They haven’t

bothered to come back to the community and find out how they would do

it and these kinds of things. They’re just acting with another

committee.”

The council in January voted to form an ad hoc committee, whose

members were named by Bromberg and approved by the council, to

consider future uses for Marinapark. But Nichols isn’t alone in

worrying that the committee won’t fairly represent the community’s

wishes for the property.

Two of the councilmen who were in favor of the hotel project are

on the committee, and options that could be considered include

commercial uses such as a large-boat marina, said Phil Arst, a

spokesman for the slow-growth citizens’ committee Greenlight.

“We feel that the public has voted, and the understanding was that

it would be park land, and we think it’s improper for the city to be

considering other alternatives,” Arst said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.

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