DANA POINT : City Council Nixes Controversial 151-Unit Condo Project

After three hours of debate and public testimony, the City Council this week rejected a controversial proposal for a 151-unit, three-story condominium project at Niguel Road and Corniche Drive.

A number of people who live near the 15.9-acre parcel, which lies across from the Links at Monarch Beach golf course, spoke angrily against the Ritz Pointe development, saying that the condominiums would block their ocean views, bring more traffic to the area and devalue their homes.

“I am concerned about the deterioration of our quality of life,” resident Robert Moore said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s too many units, and it’s too high.”

The developer, Parcel R.P. Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., said that it will pursue its original proposal, which called for 192 units, 35 feet high. That plan was approved by Orange County in 1989, before Dana Point was incorporated.

The developer has been trying to build the project ever since, but the plan has been repeatedly rejected by city officials on grounds that it fails to meet code standards in force since the city was incorporated. Those standards limit housing projects to 111 units and a height of 28 feet.

“We are trying to be good neighbors and have attempted to comply with the density code,” said Elihu Fier, president of Parcel R.P., which over the years has filed several lawsuits over the project.

Councilman Harold R. Kaufman said he is concerned that the council’s action this week could eventually backfire.

“There must be some compromise area that would save the community the litigation and possibility of losing in court and then getting stuck with 192 units,” said Kaufman, the only council member to vote for the 151-unit project. “I believe that we’re taking a very large risk.”