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Council approves PCH hotel over objections of neighbors
by Robb Fulcher
The city council on Tuesday approved plans for a 71-room hotel on long-vacant land along Pacific Coast Highway at 15th Street, despite neighbors’ complaints that the project would add to traffic congestion and cut off their westward views.
The council approved the project by a 3-1 vote. Julie Oakes cast the dissenting ballot, saying she wanted to see more detailed plans before she could give the project her nod. Councilman Sam Edgerton did not attend the meeting.
Oakes and fellow Councilwoman Kathy Dunbabin expressed serious reservations about the hotel project, but they acknowledged that the zoning status of the land allows a hotel, and development of some kind would certainly occur there.
Mayor JR Reviczky and Councilman John Bowler said the project will not overreach the 35-foot height limit, and they pointed to a consultant’s traffic study showing that the PCH corridor would not see a significant effect on its traffic.
"I can’t think of any use that would have less of an impact on PCH, except for no use at all," Bowler said.
Dunbabin said she could not vote against a legal use of the land, and said that the project satisfied legal requirements.
After clearing the last major obstacle to his three-story, 34,000 square-foot Hampton Inn and Suites hotel across PCH from the empty Hermosa Beach Pavilion, developer Dixit Patel must now submit more detailed plans and seek a building permit.
City officials have described the Hampton Inn project as part of an effort to improve the PCH business corridor, which sees as many as 61,000 autos zip by in a day.
Another hotel similar in size is under construction on PCH at First Street, in Hermosa’s southern section. The three-story, 80-unit Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites will sit upon 40,000 square feet that have been unused throughout the decade.
The 70,000 square-foot Hermosa Beach Pavilion has been expected to reopen about year’s end, anchored by an upscale 24 Hour Fitness facility featuring a large swimming pool, saunas and a full basketball court. ER