MACCALLUM SUITES DECISION RECINDED
Web Posted February 3, 2009
    
by Richard Johnson
  On February 3, Mendocino County supervisors voted 4-1 with supervisor Pinches dissenting to rescind the decision of December 15 to remove 4 visitor serving facility designations from the Mendocino Art Center and grant them to the MacCallum Suites, the former Reed Manor overlooking the town of Menocino from the north, just west of Highway One. The instruction to county counsel included rescheduling the hearing with proper notice.
    The move required the board to modify their rules concerning recissions to eliminate a provision that a supervisor who approved a measure had to vote affirmatively rescind it. That requirement remains for reconsideration.
    County counsel Jeanine Nadel put the item on the agenda, stating that the previous decision was an error she had warned against in that the public and the Art Center were not notified in advance that the designations were to be switched. That action came as an alternative motion to a routine item about a proposed Mendocino Town Plan amendment. Nadel said the board had ignored her advice to wait until completion of review of the that Plan which includes tables allocating business, residential and visitor serving units to individual parcels. She said that adequate notice was fundamental to our system of government, state law and the Coastal Act.
    Jared Carter, attorney for Mac House innkeepers threatened the board with a federal civil rights lawsuit if the took that action, stating that removing a private propery interest from his clients would be a "big deal' in which a "lot of money would be involved." He said his clients were relying on the December 15 decision and renting the units and would continue to do so no matter what the board decided that day.
    Nadel read the ordinance back to Carter, in the detail that final approval of the resolution depended on board acceptance of any modification by the Coastal Commission, and prohibiting of any rental under the resolution pending such approval.
    Subsequently, Brant Stickles, president of the board of the Mendocino Art Center and himself a lawyer declared Carter was blowing smoke and repeated Carter's arguments but in favor of the art center, that it was a person under law and was entitled to due process as provided in the bill of rights, and that the transfer of property rights ordained by the supervisors on December 15 violated the Brown Act. He and subsequent speakers supporting the Art Center noted the institution was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and was pumping some $1.5 million annually into the countwide economy from direct donations and participant spending. In addition it had a vibrantly active 15-member board of directors from a wide range of professions and  budget for expansion and development.
    Former owner of the applicant property Monty Reed rose to deliver a personal attack on supervisor Colfax, calling him an ostrich with his head in the sand listening only to a vocal minority, advocating negative growth and egotistical power plays, finally suggesting he should resign.
    Another speaker noted the real problem was the county was not enforcing against any code violations on the coast, and the proponent had been renting these units for years illegally. And he added this was an unfair business practice under the California Business Code.
    When all was said and done, supervisor Colfax blew a reading of the recommended motion and had to be corrected by Nadel. He stated he was embarrassed by the error and offered the excuse that soon he would be in Maui on his vaction. He no longer is capable of serving in office.

macsuitesext.jpgThis tourist palace, as well as two other inns are FOR SALE as the client base shrinks and the credit system is in deep freeze.

Private Property Rules:
      In an unusual special session on Monday, December 15, Mendocino County supervisors approved permits for four guest rooms for MacCallum Suites in Mendocino at the expense of the Art Center which has not yet built the units for which it has been approved.
    The long-anticipated vote was 3-2 with supervisors David Colfax and Kendall Smith dissenting. The action was a last gasp flouting of government regulation by private property advocates John Pinches, Michael Delbar and Jim Wattenburger, the latter two in their last hours of power.
    And it came in the face of repeated warnings by county counsel Jeanine Nadel who said, "If you do this, you will be sued." Presumably by the Art Center.
      Monty Reed, the previous landowner apparently added 4 guest rooms without permits in violation of the Town Plan and coastal zoning ordinances placing a cap on visitor serving units at the site to keep a balance between commercial, residential, tourist and other uses in the zone.
    The new owners Jed Ayers and Noah Sheppard hired Ukiah attorney Carter to work his magic. The elderly mouthpiece for greedy developers in typical fashion droned on in patrician nasal tones, waved his arms and gave his histrionic legal opinion alleging the plain language doesn't really mean what it says and the supes had the power to permit the illegally added units anyway.     
    Planning staff had recommended denial because the Town Plan is under review and an update may be forthcoming and so the project was premature.
    Senior planner Frank Lynch, county counsel Nadel, Supervisor Smith and county CEO Tom Mitchell repeatedly pleaded for patience for another 6-12 months implying the new rooms would be approved as part of a legal and orderly process when the Town Plan review and update were done, but not now.     
    The project has a decades long history and was instrumental in the formation of a community advisory board at one point. Proponents repeatedly pointed out the subject Town Plan Table 413.1 had not been updated for fifteen years, in violation of law claimed Carter.
    Said update is now in the purview of the Planning Team which also has responsibility for the General Plan and the UVAP. For more information, see http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/planningteam/coastal/MTP.htm
    The BOS and the Coastal Commission had approved it ten years ago, but it was tied up in Superior Court for 5 years over a question of the CC comment period. When it came back before the board in 2005, it was denied on a 4-1 vote without prejudice over lack of official data on the current mix of visitor serving, residential and commercial uses.
    The proponent had gathered voluminous data that residential had increased and many vacation rentals had gone out of use, thereby justifying increased tourist units.
    Another factor propelling the owners' need to legalize the extra rooms at this time is that all their properties are for sale.
    These amount to MacCallum House, the Suites, and Village Inn. The asking price is $10.5 million. Mitchell reported to the board that all the properties were being advertised with more units than registered on county tax rolls. The Mac House seems to have 2 extra rooms, the Suites these 4, and the Village Inn with one extra room, for a total of 7.
    In the hearing, Ayers admitted that the 4 unpermitted suites were regularly rented for overnight, weekend and extended periods.
    This infuriated Colfax who around 5:50 pm launched into a total denunciation of Ayers' character, stopping just short of calling him a lying hypocrite, but specifically accusing the "sanctimonious innkeeper" of renting out unpermitted units in violation of law, blaming him for "taking advantage of a county that is uncomfortable" with prosecuting violations of its zoning regulations.
    "It hurts. It's a kick in the teeth," he declared.
    Finally he stated that while he was correctly rebuked for his earlier show of emotion, "this board should be rebuked for not taking responsibility" by abating the suites in the past.
    When asked by supervisor Smith why unused rooms at the Art Center should be transferred to him and not someone else, Ayers replied because he had paid for the extenuated  process to obtain them. When asked why now, Ayers indicated it was so Delbar and Wattenburger could vote for it.
      Supervisor Pinches summed it up by saying that property rights are rights, not privileges and declaring that the "public" interest means those who own property. He said the regrets expressed by staff in not updating the Town Plan earlier was "BS."
    The final vote amended the General Plan (still under "update review") to deny the Art Center the use of four unused rooms and transfer them to the Suites partners, leaving the total number of visitor units in the table unchanged.