Proposal to Build Motel Near San Clemente Pier Looks to Learn from Past Mistakes

BY C. JAYDEN SMITH

At its meeting on Wednesday, June 28, the Design Review Subcommittee was scheduled to review a proposal that would transform a property with a single-family home built in 1927 into a boutique motel overlooking the Municipal Pier

The property, located at 402 Pasadena Court within the Pier Bowl, spans 18,339 square feet and includes a four-level building that has been converted into a triplex since its initial construction. The site also features a “character-defining” garden, according to the staff report, and is currently eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The proposed project would construct what would be known as the Sea Cliff Motel and Restaurant—a Spanish Colonial Revival-style, nine-unit motel that would add two buildings to the property, as well as a 48-seat indoor and outdoor restaurant, a rooftop deck, a pool and spa, and other features. There would also be 27 spots for parking, with 13 street parking spaces that qualify to be included with nine new ground-level garage spaces, three uncovered spaces and two more in the remaining garages.

Largely, the proposal adheres to the city’s policies and design standards, with additional modifications mentioned in the staff report.

On Tuesday, June 27, the San Clemente Times spoke with Jim Holloway, a project consultant who served as the city’s Community Development Director for 28 years, and project architect Tony Massaro of the Costa Mesa-based Mars Hill Studio.

Holloway described his role as like a navigator on a ship, doing course corrections when necessary on behalf of the property owner, who’s owned 402 Pasadena Court for roughly four years.

“(The owner’s vision) for the project is exactly what the (city’s) policies indicate, which is this really classy, Spanish Colonial Revival, visitor-serving and visitor-accessible project in the Pier Bowl, cleaning up a nice, historic building,” Holloway said. “It’s been deteriorating year by year, and he wants to rehabilitate it.”

402 Pasadena Court sits in the Coastal Recreation Commercial 1 (CRC1) Zone and Architectural-Visitor Serving Commercial District Overlay Zone within the Pier Bowl Specific Plan, which “pretty much demands a publicly accessible project,” according to Holloway.

The proposal complies by providing a stairway and walkway between Pasadena Court and Avenida Victoria, with a view deck in the middle and another view deck above the planned restaurant. Massaro, project architect, added that the other parts of the project’s design the months leading up to Wednesday’s DRSC meeting, from which they expected to receive valuable feedback that helped whittle down the list of modifications the city has for the project.

Holloway talked about using 3-D modeling to show how their project wouldn’t significantly interfere with views of the ocean and how the project team intended to “rehabilitate primary cultural resources,” such as the main building itself and a water feature.

“Knowing the city and having the experience I’ve had, it’s not easy (to develop projects),” said Holloway. “But I think the approach we took is that we spent a lot of time up front planning, rather than just throwing some spaghetti against the wall early on to see what would stick.”

Holloway said he expected the DRSC meeting to consist of a back-and-forth discussion on design issues, such as the city’s recommendation of using landscaping or an off-white color on retaining walls to “visually separate” the older residence from the new development. The historic property’s retaining wall is characterized as covered in a textured stucco finish with a pure white color.

“What we would be recommending is a smoother stucco finish again with the white wall, because in San Clemente, the white walls really are distinctive, but we would be able to distinguish the new stuff from the old stuff, just by the texture of the stucco,” said Holloway. “That’s a pretty good example of the kind of discussion (we’ll have).”

San Clemente Historical Society president Larry Culbertson also spoke with the SC Times on Tuesday, detailing the group’s issues with the project, specifically the potential removal of the historic garden area, parking, view impacts, and an overall negative impact to the area.

Taking out the garden would decrease the property’s historic integrity needed to possibly be listed on the National Register, according to Culbertson. Additionally, he said the 14 on-site parking spaces would not be enough to accommodate all the motel and restaurant employees.

Community Meetings

FRIDAY, JUNE 30

Beachside Chat

8-9 a.m. Join San Clemente residents and dignitaries for the weekly Beachside Chat, a spirited, town hall forum on community issues led by a slate of rotating hosts. The chats are held at Dorothy Visser Senior Center, located at 117 Avenida Victoria, San Clemente. All are welcome.

SATURDAY, JULY 1

Challenging Cancer

10-11:30 a.m. The Challenging Cancer group is conducting weekly meetings through Zoom video conferences. The meetings are open to caregivers, people who have a compromised immune system, and people dealing with cancer. To join, email donnavigil2@gmail.com or linda_crdv@ yahoo.com. heritagesc.org.

TUESDAY, JULY 4

Because I Love You (BILY)

6:30-8:30 p.m. The organization Because I Love You (BILY), which helps parents navigate through any parenting challenges they may be facing (e.g., failure to launch, substance misuse, disrespect, mental health), conducts its weekly meetings on Tuesdays via Zoom video conference and in-person/Zoom the first Tuesday of each month at the Outlets at San Clemente’s Conference Room. For detailed instructions on how to participate, email bilysanclemente@gmail.com.

San Clemente Toastmasters

7-8:40 p.m. The Toastmasters Club invites people to lose their fear of public speaking and have fun at the same time. Join them in person on the first and third Tuesday of the month at the Baha’i Center, at 3316 Avenida del Presidente. Visitors welcomed. Call or text Laura Yang at 949.547.6558 with questions. 6463.toastmastersclubs.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5

VA Disabled Claims Clinic were greatly influenced by the city’s pre-existing plans and design guidelines, as well as the results of previous proposals on the same property that were rejected.

Massaro has had previous experience designing Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in places near Carlsbad and Newport Beach, as well as at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, where he modeled the school’s Scott Academic Center after the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

Both Massaro and Holloway spoke about meeting with city planner David Carrillo and other city officials during

Culbertson referred to a previous proposal in 2005 that consisted of adding six more units to the property, without the additional restaurant and amenities, which the Historical Society also didn’t support but was rejected by the Coastal Commission anyway.

“When somebody buys a historic property, they have a right to develop it, somewhat, but it’s got to be within the (U.S.) Secretary of the Interior’s standards (SOIS),” Culbertson said. “We maintain that what they’re proposing does not fit within the guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior.”

If the project proposed adding only six units, that would be one thing, Culbertson said. But the current plan is “like the Taj Mahal,” he added.

2-4 p.m. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 9934 will sponsor a Veterans Affairs Disability Claims Clinic at the Dana Point Community Center the first and third Wednesday of each month. Veterans can walk in and meet with a VFW Service Officer and receive information on how to file a claim for service-related medical issues. Dana Point Community Center, 34052 Del Obispo Street, Dana Point.

Nonetheless, the project team, including Massaro, feels confident about their prospects with the city.

“You never can tell. That’s why we go through these (meetings),” Massaro said. “We feel positive, because we feel like we were very diligent in meeting the city’s aesthetic and technical requirements.”