Developer, eco group make for strange bedfellows

Alex Coolman

At a time when the Newport Dunes is at the center of the city’s most

controversial development debate, a local environmental group has forged

a curious alliance with the resort.

It’s an arrangement, some environmentalists say, that may be too close

for comfort.

Orange County CoastKeeper, a Newport Beach-based nonprofit

organization that focuses on water issues, presented a water quality

award to the Dunes in June.

Now, only a few weeks later, the group is the designated recipient of

a Dunes fund-raising effort.

CoastKeeper has yet to actually receive any money from the resort,

said director Garry Brown. It was, however, the intended beneficiary of a

fund-raiser held in the Dunes’ Back Bay Cafe in July, according to a

statement released by the Dunes.

Proceeds from the sale of all desserts sold in July at the cafe will

be given to the group as long as diners said “the coast is clear” when

ordering, the statement said.

CoastKeeper also held a “Margaritafest 2000” fund-raiser at the Dunes

on July 15, an event with $100 tickets and a silent auction. The group

paid the Dunes for the use of its facilities at that time, Brown said.

Robert Black, a spokesman for Newport Dunes, said it was not yet clear

how much money would be given to the group in connection with the dessert

promotion.

The fund-raising actions, some environmentalists say, are worrisome

because of the impression that CoastKeeper and the Dunes are snuggling

together a little too intimately.

“There is a potential conflict of interest, and any organization that

is going to do this would have to be sure that they weren’t pandering in

some way,” said Martin Schlageter, conservation coordinator for the

Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club. “But more importantly, there is a

perceived conflict of interest, and so you have to be sure that all your

decision-making is out in public.”

Schlageter emphasized that he was not commenting specifically on

CoastKeeper’s behavior, but rather on the way fund-raising in general may

be perceived.

CoastKeeper gave Newport Dunes its “Coast is Clear” award June 19,

recognizing its efforts to protect water quality in the bay.

It has also commented extensively on water-related issues in

connection with the proposed expansion of the resort.

That project, which has been at the center of heated debate at recent

council meetings and is a centerpiece of slow-growth Greenlight

supporters, is championed on the developer’s Web site for the

improvements it will bring to the water quality of Newport Bay.

The June award, Brown said, paid tribute to the Dunes’ savvy alliance

of environmental and business concerns.

“They go hand in hand,” Brown said at the time.

He says, however, that closeness did not extend to buying and selling

environmental credentials.

“A couple people have tried to make a bridge between the two things,

and there frankly isn’t any,” he said. “Our opinions are not for sale. If

people want to donate to us and help us out, they can. But they’re not

buying anything other than that we appreciate their support.”

Brown, while conceding that “the timing was awkward” for the Dunes

fund-raiser, said he thought the amount of money generated by the dessert

sale would be minimal.

“We never anticipated that being much of anything and we haven’t

really relied on it too much,” he said.

But even if the amount raised turns out to be minor, environmentalists

say such gestures can make a difference in the public’s perception of a

group.

“If we were looking at something that [a developer] was doing, we

would probably try to keep a real arm’s length,” said Nancy Gardner,

president of the Newport Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

“I don’t want to sound holier than thou,” she said. “The situations

could be totally unrelated. But if nothing else, the perception would be

there. People would say, ‘Well hey, they just got bought off.’ ”