Coastal timeshare project resurfaces after decade on hold

A proposal to put a hotel timeshare project on one of the last remaining vacant coastal bluffs in Encinitas is being revived a decade after it was knocked back by the Great Recession.

“We’re moving forward,” Dan Reedy, manager and member of Surfers Point LLC, said Tuesday as he discussed his long-delayed development proposal.

Plans call for the construction of three buildings containing a total of 26 hotel-like, timeshare units, plus a club house, a pool and a spa on the nearly 2-acre site on the northeast corner of La Costa Avenue and Coast Highway 101.

The prime coastal property -- a popular informal pullout area for people checking out surfing conditions to the north of the Encinitas city limits -- has a bird’s eye view of South Carlsbad State Beach and Batiquitos Lagoon. Along its eastern edge is a North County Transit District railroad easement.

If his plans go as hoped, Reedy said, he would like to begin site grading work in late spring and have the first phase of construction conclude some 18 months after that. But, first, he’s got to update his old permit paperwork, city records indicate.

Reedy purchased the land in 1999 and spent much of the next decade obtaining city and state development permits. Because of its location, he was required to conduct an environmental impact assessment and win state Coastal Commission approval.

In late 2007, the state commission gave its approval, but with a series of conditions, including requiring:

• The construction of an open-to-the-public coastal viewing area and public pathways on the property.
• The planting of native, non-invasive plants to minimize visual impacts
• The protection of the bluff by meeting 25-foot, building setback standards.

Reedy recalled Tuesday that he was about to make the transition from permit approval to construction, “and then 2008 appeared and the ... recession crushed everything.”
In order to revive his old plans, he now needs to meet new stormwater control rules, obtain a new city coastal development permit and make his plans compatible with other pending projects in the area, new city planning department paperwork indicates. Pending construction projects include a traffic circle roundabout at La Costa Avenue’s intersection with the Coast Highway and the double-tracking of the railroad line.

Because of the double-tracking project, Reedy is now proposing to do his development in two phases. He submitted a request to the city in late August asking to modify his development plan and split the construction into phases, but stressed that little else would be changing.

“The architecture, including the number of units, floor plans, roof plans, exterior finishes, etc., have not changed,” he wrote in his request.

His request is now undergoing city review.

Barbara Henry is a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune.