The future of Aliso Creek

Athens Group presents plans for developing the property at a town hall meeting; the response is cautious optimism.A concept for the redevelopment of the Aliso Creek Inn and Golf Course and the Driftwood Estates parcel in South Laguna is a work in progress.

Athens Group representatives have presented the evolving concept to a series of groups, culminating Wednesday in a presentation to a packed audience in the City Council chambers. Some in the audience were supportive of the concept, and others were cautiously optimistic. Still others were known to be opposed to already-approved development on at least one of the parcels, which will be treated as a single project.

“There are a lot of positive aspects, but the devil is in the details,” Village Laguna President Doug Reilly said.

The Athens Group presentation included plans for demolishing Aliso Creek Inn and the outbuildings that dot the 84-acre site; clustering a new lodge and “casitas” with 90 to 98 rooms and 40 to 50 condominiums in the already developed area nearest to Coast Highway; constructing a trail traversing the property from Aliso Beach to Aliso and Wood Canyon Wilderness Park; and improving water quality management.

“The concept is a product of input from the community,” Athens Group Vice President John Mansour said. “We hope to do justice to the Brown family and the canyon environment.”

A partnership of Athens Group, Montage Resorts and an unidentified investor purchased the golf course property from the late Violet Brown and the contiguous 225-acre parcel known as Driftwood Estates from the Esslinger Family Trust in 2004. The partnership also owns the Best Western hotel and the Laguna Chabad across the highway from the resort.

The Athens Group presentations have not included plans for Driftwood. Entitlements approved in 2004 by the city for an 11-parcel project are due to expire today, and the developer said it will not ask for an extension.

The Driftwood acreage wraps around a landlocked 90-acre parcel that does not belong to the partnership, which also does not have any intention of purchasing it.

“It doesn’t work well with our plans, but if it came on the market we would take a look at it,” Mansour said.

Environmental matters

As presented, the concept shuts the door on expansion of the golf course to 18 holes or intrusion into the dedicated open space, a proposal discussed with county officials but never formally presented last year. Environmentalists were outraged when information about the meetings was leaked.

The Athens Group concept also does not include complete cleanup of the badly polluted Aliso Creek, which Mansour said would cost $30 million to $50 million.

“Where will the money come from?” asked Laguna Beach resident Bonnie Hano.

Mansour said that funding for such a project typically comes from coalition of federal, county and local agencies. The creek winds its way from Cook’s Corner to the ocean, through nine developed communities and open space, picking up bacteria, heavy metals and runoff on its way to the beach.

While unwilling to assume the total financial burden, the partnership would provide leadership to the stakeholders, Mansour said.

“As stewards of the land, we must look beyond our own property,” Mansour said.

Hano expressed doubt that the cleanup would come in her lifetime.

“We aren’t ready to throw in the towel yet,” Mansour said.

Athens Group has hired Martyn Hoffman as point man for water quality and entitlement for the project.

Hoffman’s credentials include experience in the restrictive Tahoe Basin. He is a certified professional in erosion and sediment control and a member of Surfrider Foundation.

Mansour said a specific plan will be ready to submit to the city no sooner than January or February.

“Overall, I feel positive, although I still have questions,” former City Clerk Verna Rollinger said. “This is a much better process than Montage.”

City and California Coastal Commission approval of Montage Resort and Spa included the Treasure Island Park and beach access, but the park’s cost to the public still irks many in the community, fostering continued complaints about the hotel.

The series of meetings with focus groups on Aliso Creek was intended to blunt another community dispute.

“I am pleasantly surprised by the public reception of the concept,” Athens Group President Kim Richards said. “I think the reason is that it makes so much sense.”

City codes would allow a maximum of 91 single-family homes, 88 hillside lots and a 654-key hotel on the property. “We are not advocating the maximums,” Mansour said.

Mansour anticipates a 2 to 2 1/2 -year entitlement process and another 2 1/2 years for development.

“It will be a good five years, maybe longer, before we open the doors,” Mansour said.

Previous entitlements for Driftwood alone took 2 1/2 years.

Athens Group will request a modest 2% increase in existing use of the total 315 acres, but zoning changes will be required.

“It’s a good plan,” said local environmentalist Bill Roley. “They are trying to do more with less.”

Pockets of single-family housing zones will be eliminated, reducing the R-1 zones from 50 to 17 acres.

Nine acres of commercial use will remain unchanged, but recreational use will be reduced by about five acres -- which Mansour said would be transferred to dedicated open space. Architecture will be inspired by the Craftsman style.

“We want to be true to the history of Laguna,” Mansour said.

Historic property

George and Sarah Thurston and their six children claimed a 152-acre parcel that included the golf course property in 1871. They built their home on what is now the third hole and lived there for 50 years.

William “Bill” Bryant bought 84 acres of the property in 1940 and designed the golf course that opened in 1950 as the Laguna Beach Country Club.

Ben and Vi Brown bought it in 1956.

“My uncle was a developer, and the property made a big impact on him,” said Ed Slyman, the Browns’ nephew.

Brown had approval from the county in 1960 to build a 130-foot-high hotel with 10 stories, a two-level basement garage, a 50-unit guest lodge and a conference pavilion.

The plan was abandoned and the present configuration was built.

Brown died in 1972, and his widow assumed management of the property.

Mrs. Brown refused the developer’s first offer, but five floods in the 1990s took their toll, Slyman said.

The property now contributes almost $900,000 a year in property taxes.

If approved by the city as conceived, the renovated property would pay property taxes of $6.3 million per year, Mansour said.

The city’s share would be $2 million a year. City schools would get almost as much as the current total tax -- $780,000 -- annually, and the business improvement district that supports local art would get $230,000 a year.

“We have to look at the benefits to the community,” Village Laguna President Reilly said.