Laguna Beach : Council to Study Plan for Sycamore Hills Inn

A plan that could help Laguna Beach to preserve open space through the building of a 200-room country-style inn in the Sycamore Hills area will undergo City Council scrutiny tonight.

Although plans are “very preliminary,” said City Manager Ken Frank, the proposal would enable the city to lease a 50-acre city-owned site worth about $1.5 million to a Costa Mesa developer, who would build the inn at his own expense.

No lease agreement has been worked out, but in a memorandum to the council, Frank estimated that the site could generate between $240,000 and $400,000 a year in lease revenue to the city and more than $350,000 a year in bed taxes.

While Laguna Beach would continue to hold title to the site, Byron Tarnutzer Investment Co. Inc., the proposed developer, would run the hotel. A portion of the revenues generated by the scheme would be used to buy open-space land in the city.

Currently, the city has its eye on more than 600 acres of property scattered throughout Laguna Beach that could be purchased using funds generated by the inn over a 10-year period.

“We would be giving up about 50 acres roughly . . . but over a period of years, we would be able to buy hundreds of acres of property and preserve it for posterity,” Frank said.

Frank is recommending that the council refer the plan to the Planning Commission, which would have until Aug. 20 to crystalize plans and present them to the council.