Recently the California Coastal Commission approved clarification of some language in Pacific Grove’s Local Coastal Program Implementation Plan. This minor change will allow the developers of the hotel project for the American Tin Cannery site to develop plans to submit to the city’s Planning Commission.
There were only a handful of people opposed to the project; but they mostly talked about how historic the ATC is (even though it is not on the city’s Historic Inventory List), about how it was too big (225 rooms on 5.6 acres), waxed poetic about the whole history of PG’s shoreline, and complained about how it will be for “privileged guests” (even though one wing is designed for low-cost family stays). Most of the comments had nothing to do with the item in front of the commission, however, and they unanimously approved the language change that will allow the developer to treat the whole lot as one parcel and not two.
Hotels have many benefits for cities; both in jobs for locals and tax revenue to the city. This hotel, at 40 feet in height, will be lower than the city’s six-story Forest Hill Manor and considerably smaller than the 330 room Asilomar Conference Center. Though final plans have not been released yet, it could be a treasure; and a great source of income – for Pacific Grove.
— Rudy Fischer, Pacific Grove