San Clemente, Builder Debate Library Plan

The San Clemente City Council debated late into the night Wednesday over changes it wants in a residential complex that would include the long-stalled Richard Nixon Presidential Library.

The council’s debates drew expressions of concern from the Lusk Co. of Irvine, the firm that has proposed the development.

Company Objects

Donald Steffensen, executive vice president of the Lusk Co., told the council that the company will not accept changes that are not feasible. “We will never agree to do something we can’t perform,” Steffensen said.

At issue during the meeting was Phase I of the 253-acre Marblehead Coastal Plan, which includes the long-proposed presidential library. Steffensen said that his company wants to review the council’s actions on that phase.

“Once you set your conditions,” he said to the council, “then we will very promptly review those and see if we can perform.”

The city is proposing several changes to the Lusk Co. proposal. Steffensen said Wednesday night that he disagrees with some of the conditions the city is suggesting.

The plan, as proposed by Lusk, would include the library, three hotels, 1,290 homes and a commercial complex atop 100-foot-high bluffs along oceanfront property near Avenido Pico.

The council’s conditional approval would require Lusk to donate four more acres to the public facilities portion of the development--which would include a new civic center--thereby reducing the number of homes to 1,198. Steffensen said Wednesday night that the company would be reluctant to donate the four acres.

The council is considering a similar conditional-approval package to the one the Planning Commission unanimously approved for the Marblehead Coastal Plan July 16.

The proposed council resolutions for Phase I are:

- To certify the environmental impact report as adequate and complete. “The City Council finds that the significant unavoidable adverse impacts are clearly outweighed by the economic, social and other benefits of the project,” the proposed resolution states.

- To designate the approved land-use, maximum residential densities, circulation and open space for the entire site, including the library.

- To accept a General Plan amendment to allow the desired development of the property, including changing some of its natural topography by filling three canyons and grading the 100-foot bluffs.

The General Plan amendment would only become effective, however, when Lusk agrees to dedicate the four acres to public facilities and to make improvements in the 12-acre bluff-top park, according to the proposed resolution.

Steffensen said he believes it is the responsibility of the city, not the Lusk Co., to improve the park. He said the improvements would cost the company $5 million.

Alternatives Considered

If the council gives approval to Phase I, work on the project can begin as soon as two conditions are met.

First, the city must approve final plans for grading the library site and the filling the canyon areas before the Nixon Presidential Archives Foundation can seek a development permit from the California Coastal Commission.

Second, the Planning Commission must approve the library’s architectural plans and steps that would be taken to mitigate damage to wetlands areas.

Nixon Presidential Archives Foundation members had been looking at potential alternative sites in Yorba Linda, the former President’s birthplace, in case the San Clemente council rejected the Marblehead plan.

Foundation members visited a parcel of North Orange County Community College District property in Yorba Linda as well as some Yorba Linda city property next to the house where Nixon was born.

Although the San Clemente council approved plans for the library on a 16.7-acre bluff-top site in 1984, foundation members decided not to seek Coastal Commission permission to build it until the city approved the entire 253-acre development.

The Lusk Co. agreed to spend about $5 million on site improvements needed to build the library but has said it cannot do so until the entire project is approved.