Friday, April 30, 2010 |Two immigrant families vie for a chance to showcase Orange County's surf culture by operating a small grocery store atop a picturesque bluff overlooking Dana Point's Salt Creek Beach .
The battle, which has been going on since last September, will go before county supervisors next week. Board members will face a difficult question regarding county interests: preserving tradition or promising more revenue.
The competition also offers a window into the behind-the-scenes intrigue that often precedes the decisions managers make on stage.
Currently, the Dana Point concession is operated by the Efstatiou family, led by father John. They've been serving breakfast burritos and apple burritos out of a small cabin for 20 years.
Leading the charge is the Ali family, which operates a series of beach concessions and currently operates Zack's Pier Plaza and Zack's Two in Huntington Beach. Mike Ali, the family's patriarch, wants to expand into Dana Point.
The Efstasias family relies on the connections they have built over the years with local people. The family has collected over 1,300 signatures for a petition in support of them.
And at a February meeting of the Orange County Parks Commission, where Efstatiou brought a stack of letters from local officials and residents, Efstatiou said he has become a fixture in the beach community.
Natalie Efstaouiu, John's daughter, told park commissioners that Salt Creek Beach is not “the typical loud, crowded Huntington Beach type of beach.”
Mike Ali counters that the site is underutilized. He called Efstatiu an “absentee owner” and claimed the site was often not open. He also said the county's annual revenue of $30,000 from the concession could be increased significantly with a better business plan.
“We have a lot of ideas for Salt Creek,” Ali told commissioners. Being so close to two luxury hotels, the St. Regis and the Ritz-Carlton, is a big advantage, Ali said. “This concession has great potential.”
When county parks officials put the concession out to bid last year, Efstatiu came out on top with proposals evaluated by county real estate officials.
But in oral interviews, Mr. Ali, who promised a better theme and more revenue, was ultimately endorsed by county officials as the better proposal.
This prompted calls for foul play from Efstatiou's lawyer, Lynn Geyser, who argued that none of Ali's promises were in writing.
The Parks Commission publicly considered two proposals in a long and heated session in February. In the end, they voted 4-2 to maintain the concession with Evstatiu, against staff recommendations.
County parks officials then changed the report based on a vote by the park commission. That prompted a question from Supervisor John Moorlach, who represents Ali's district.
Such advisory committees typically vote on issues, but the original staff recommendations are usually not changed. Top-level elected officials, such as supervisors and city council members, then typically decide whether to support or reject the staff or advisory committee recommendations.
The beach concession was scheduled to be discussed by regulators last month. But Muarach deferred the item and asked county CEO Tom Mauck to look into protocol, decorum and etiquette at county advisory committee meetings.
Mauk said he would look into the matter further, fueling speculation that the recommendations could change. Some park administrators are also concerned about this.
“I didn't think the staff report as written at this point showed exactly why the commission made the decision that it did,” Parks Director Matt Cunningham said.
“A lot of people signed the petition and it looks like we're giving in, but that's not really the case. We spent several hours thinking about it. I asked questions. I went in there with an open mind.”
There is no county policy that says a committee vote cannot actually be heard and used to change a staff recommendation.
And apparently, that's exactly what OC Parks Director Mark Denny has done.
“We have revised the staff recommendation to reflect the Committee's input and to respect the Committee's hard work in collecting all public testimony and conducting lengthy public hearings. We wanted to make a nomination that reflected that hard work.”
“They have been instrumental in the process here,” Denny said. “We recognize that we did something different. We did not necessarily follow the practices of the past,” he said, emphasizing the words “practice, not policy.”
Don Hughes, a policy advisor to County Supervisor Pat Bates, who represents the district where Efstatiw lives and has interests, said his office agrees with the parks commission's decision.
“We let the committee proceed as is,” Hughes said. “The process did what it was supposed to do.”
Contact Norberto Santana, Jr. directly at nsantana@voiceofoc.org and follow him on Twitter. twitter.com/Norbert Sanatona. Then add your voice as a letter to the editor.
