No free lunch for residents at Montage

Dan Huston

Can a small Orange County town, primarily residential, be dominated

and run by a political machine? If the town is Laguna Beach and the

political boss is City Manager Ken Frank, then the answer is yes.

How the Montage came to Laguna is an example of high stakes

(public funds) being used for private gain with little or no public

exposure or outcry.

First the Montage resort itself. There was no real adverse public

opinion against the project. We just wanted restrictions that would

prevent another Surf and Sand fiasco -- no view-screening tower,

adequate parking for employees and customers and access to the beach.

Now what did the Montage get? The prime, absolutely the best,

resort location available anywhere. Too strong a statement? Let me

list some attractions all within less than a two-hour drive. An

all-weather beachfront site, available by plane, train, car or bus. I

stress all-weather because outside of a few rainstorms, normal attire

is OK, no humidity or insects. On our coldest day a medium jacket

will do. No snow or ice to contend with, leave your galoshes at home.

Sports. Year around golf, a selection of courses within 30 minutes

of the Montage. Deep sea fishing, skin diving. As a fan you can watch

any one of three major league baseball teams, two NBA squads, one NFL

football team, several top golf tournaments, soccer, tennis, sailing.

What did I leave out?

Sites to visit -- remember less than a two-hour drive from the

Montage. Lets go south. You can visit Mexico (easy to stay

overnight), Sea World, Wild Animal Park and the world famous San

Diego Zoo. Up here we have the Long Beach Aquarium, the Queen Mary

and Ports ‘o Call, Disneyland, Universal Studios, the Getty and

countless other high-quality museums. For the history buff there are

all our historic missions starting at Santa Barbara and including our

own at San Juan Capistrano. There are many articles and documents of

historical lore to see.

How about a whale-watching trip in season, or our world famous

Rose Parade? Right here in Laguna there’s our Pageant of the Masters.

There is a wide selection of theater from the Music Center and the

Ahmanson and the Pantages to visiting the TV stations and watching a

show being taped.

The development group was a multi-million dollar syndicate,

knowledgeable, more than amply funded and eager to acquire this

premiere location. Well, a resident here in Laguna needs a permit to

do anything more complex than changing a role of toilet paper. This

means paying fees and going through the Design Review Board, the

Planning Commission and the building department. The fees can be

quite high.

So what does Frank do? He waives almost a million dollars in

permit fees for the Montage syndicate. This will keep their private

jet in fuel for awhile. But to help offset this extra cost to the

city he raises our sewer tax. One of the concessions we were able to

get was for them to set aside some space for a public park. We will

never know the true costs to the city (we the taxpayers). I tried to

get the plans and specifications for the park. Can we even see a cost

breakdown?

Now the little development group that we had to waive the permit

fees for has purchased the Salt Creek Motel and Golf Course. Where

did they suddenly get all this cash? Just asking.

Meanwhile, I am rearranging my estate so I can free up some cash

so I can have a lunch at the Montage, including being able to pay the

parking fee. I think Frank and his friends at the Montage Resort and

Spa owe all us taxpayers a free lunch.

* DAN HUSTON is a Laguna Beach resident.