Uphold the Dana Point Headlands Development and Conservation Plan!

The Wave Resort at Strands, a proposed project in Dana Point, conflicts with the area's hard-won Headlands Development and Conservation Plan (HDCP) and the City’s certified Local Coastal Plan (LCP). Approval of the project would send the message that developers don't have to adhere to the laws governing the coastal zone, creating a situation where similar out-sized developments could fill up the coast, and LCPs and other community-based planning documents could be disregarded.

Surfrider Foundation's South OC chapter filed an appeal on the inconsistencies betweent the project and the HDCP in October, 2017, which was heard in front of the Coastal Commission in December, 2017. In a 5-5 vote (tie goes to the appellate) the Commission agreed that the resort’s coastal development permit did hold a “substantial issue.” The second part of the process, a de novo hearing, will come before the Commission at its Friday, Aug. 10 meeting. 

The conflicts in question:

• The terms of the Headlands Development Conservation Plan (“HDCP”) do not contemplate a hotel and restaurant in Planning Area 4
• The project already under construction combined with the rooms proposed for the Wave Hotel exceed the maximum allowable number of hotel rooms by 38 percent.

The Headlands Development and Conservation Plan took years to craft and was the subject of countless negotiations before the operative planning document was finally approved in 2004… It is more than clear that if the Applicant retains approval of the 57 unit Wave Hotel in Planning Area 4, the Applicant’s next step is to amend the HDCP so that the already-graded portion of Planning Area 9 may built out with its own separate allotment of 90 keys. This is not permitted by the HDCP, and the Commission should not allow it to happen.

Private companies should not be allowed to skirt the rules agreed on by the community – say YES to following the law and NO to the Wave Resort as proposed!