The City Council will take a final vote tonight on the proposal to use private funding to develop a public beach club under the bluffs at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, the ramshackle site of the former Marion Davies Estate.

If this unique facility is approved tonight, the city will have seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide the residents of Santa Monica a world-class public beach club. Unfortunately, an overzealous few threaten to destroy this noble enterprise by suing the city and delaying the project indefinitely.

That would be a shame on two fronts. First, we would lose a fantastic recreational facility: a $30 million beach club with a restored historic swimming pool, volleyball courts, paddle tennis, garden terrace, locker rooms, event rooms, children’s play area, picnic tables, and more, all with 24-hour on-site security.

But we also will lose the impressive spirit of compromise which has won over many nearby residents. I’ve been very impressed with city staff’s earnest efforts to accommodate neighbors on this initiative. In the beginning of this process, several neighbors raised legitimate concerns, notably security, noise and traffic. Those concerns have been addressed in the current proposal, as the many residents near the proposed site who support the project can attest.

Yet five neighbors are continuing to raise objections to the point where the entire plan could be scuttled — which is perhaps their intent. To date, they have spent as much as $100,000 on lawyers to press demands that are impossible for the city to meet, such requiring that CalTrans approve a traffic light for the project — something the city has little control over.

They also seek a private contract giving the five opponents veto power over future changes to beach club operations. The opponents have been unable to cite a single example of Santa Monica or any nearby city signing such an operational contract with its own residents — not even for traditionally controversial facilities like a homeless shelter, trash dump, or airport.

Yet we are talking about world-class public beach facility that most Santa Monica residents would rejoice having in their neighborhood.

The beach club’s many amenities speak for themselves, but in addition it is designed by one of California’s premier architects, Frederick Fisher and Partners, whose work includes the Huntington Library, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Broad Art Foundation. The Fisher-designed jewel will replace a dilapidated eyesore that has no security beyond a chain-link fence — hardly an ideal neighbor.

The concept of a beach club is not even new. From 1960 to 1990, 415 PCH was the home to the private Sand and Sea Club. There are two other private beach clubs still operating nearby. Both have proven to be good neighbors and neither have restrictions on operating hours, event size or number of events agreed to by the city for the public beach club. Moreover, this club isn’t proposed for a secluded, slow-paced residential street. The last letter in PCH stands for “highway,” which is a six-lane quasi-freeway overloaded with noise, traffic and pollution — all of which will exist with or without a public beach club.

Let’s be clear: The proposed beach club is not driven by a private developer seeking to turn a profit. It is for the entire community, from the young to the old, from the poor to the rich — a legacy from which our community will reap rich rewards year after year, and generation after generation. Let’s not let the self-interested few veto a recreational area that will better our community and stand as a beacon on our coastline for decades to come.

Tonight, at 5:30 p.m., Friends of 415 PCH and the Santa Monica Conservancy will hold a beach party rally on the City Hall lawn to show our support for the project. Please join us and show yours. (For more about the project visit www.friendsof415.org).



(Joel Brand is the Chair of Friends of 415, a committee of the Santa Monica Conservancy).