NEWPORT BEACH—Plans to build a 100-room resort hotel on a bluff overlooking Dana Point Harbor have hit a bit of development purgatory, as the California Coastal Commission put the breaks on the project, Sept. 11. Commissioners held the project back because the hotel lacked lower-cost overnight accommodations. There was also concern about public access.
The proposed hotel, if it were to be approved in the future, would be built on a public bluff adjacent to Dana Point Harbor. Current specifications have the proposed hotel taking up 44,164 square feet of space – about four times the size of Cannon’s restaurant. Amenities would include a restaurant, spa, bluff-top trail and public viewpoint area. It would replace Cannon’s, an existing three-story restaurant. The restaurant was built here in 1972 and would be demolished to make way for the hotel.
“The proposed project may adversely impact public access, and also due to its location on a coastal bluff, may not be adequately designed to minimize hazards,” Coastal Commission staff stated in its report to commissioners. “The project does not address or include low cost overnight accommodations [and] it is unclear if the proposed development, including the public trail, is sufficiently setback from the bluff to...