Discussion About North Beach Redevelopment Slated for May 2

Given that the voters in March shot down the Playa del Norte retail project at North Beach, what should be done to spruce up the area?

The General Plan Action Committee charged with developing an over-arching zoning plan for the city will have to answer that question, at least in a general way, starting May 2.

There are a number of ideas for developing the area. , a Patch columnist and, partnering with wife Vonne, a staunch advocate of . Another resident has come up with a similar idea but a different design, calling for a cultural plaza with a surf heritage museum.

City Manager George Scarborough reminded the council and the public that the General Plan Action Committee was only responsible for providing general direction to council and zoning plans, not for creating parameters of specific projects, however.

The San Clemente City Council and staffers hashed out a number of questions they want to put before the committee members at the May meeting.

The questions, paraphrased, include:

• Does North Beach even need redevelopment at all?
• Should we ever consider selling the city-owned land there, or should it be untouchable? (Councilman Jim Evert said on this point: "Is the city-owned property a sacred cow never to be sold, or should it be sold for fair market value? I think the truth is something in between—what you're going to use it for can sometimes dictate.")
• What are the best incentives the city can offer for the Miramar to be renovated through private dollars?
• What are the development priorities in North Beach? The Miramar? Marblehead? A park? The vacant lot on El Camino Real?
• Where does North Beach fall in the priority list compared with the rest of the areas in the city?
• What, in general, would a redeveloped North Beach look like (Councilman Tim Brown said revitalization "means different things to different people," so a coherent vision was necessary before any zoning decisions were made.)

The council and staffers had other questions as well, but Bill Hart, a committee member, pointed out that the committee should make a strong effort to adjust the process by which these decisions were made, for fear of repeating the whole debacle, which .

Hart, who was North Beach retail development , said the failure of six years of work to get the development built was scrapped by a public that didn't want it. He said the committee needed to figure out a way to get more of the public involved in the zoning decisions to avoid wasting time, effort and money.

"My position on the record is that I am not opposed to a park at North Beach," Hart said. "My concern is process only. What I'd like is a chance to make it stick."