Seaside's special election could have enormous impacts around the county.

Sometimes, the smallest straw can break the camel''s back.

Take Tuesday''s special Seaside City Council election, for instance. The much-ignored race--which pits two Seaside political veterans against a tough-on-crime newcomer--is bigger than it seems. It''s big for the city of Seaside, of course. (The winner will have a hand in deciding the fate of several key projects the council will hear in the next year, including a 400- to 450-room hotel and resort in the hills near the city-owned golf courses on Fort Ord.)

But Seaside residents aren''t the only ones who should sit up and take notice. Taken cumulatively with other major projects scheduled in several local cities, these seemingly Seaside-only projects will have a major impact on the rest of the Peninsula as well.

"When you add them all up, the cumulative impacts of what''s already approved are staggering," says Gary Patton, executive director of LandWatch Monterey County, a land-use watchdog group. "And that''s without the things yet to come. For instance, this Seaside development is going to be added onto development approvals that are waiting in the wings, the impacts of which have not been felt. It''s not as if those impacts are already being felt, and you''re adding Seaside onto what exists now."

More than 7,000 homes countywide have already been approved, although not yet built, Patton says. Those homes alone will put stress on water resources, roadways and open space, and the bevy of new projects other communities are considering will further stretch those resources.

Major projects under consideration on the Peninsula include the 218,000-square-foot, multi-use Cannery Row Marketplace in Monterey; the 495-unit Monterey Bay Shores hotel project in Sand City; Marina''s massive 2,500-plus-home residential and commercial center at Armstrong Ranch; and a shopping center already approved for a three-acre parcel on the corner of Highway 68 and Canyon Del Rey Boulevard in Del Rey Oaks. Del Rey Oaks, it should be noted, also has dreams of building a 316-room hotel, nine-hole golf course, conference center and retail space on a 360-acre parcel of Fort Ord that has recently been annexed to the city.

With all these projects looming in the future, Seaside''s planned developments will further stretch local resources.

The Seaside Factor

And here''s where Tuesday''s election comes in. That city''s future plans call for two, 400-unit housing developments to be built on Fort Ord. The first project, which developers Kaufman & Broad/Bakewell --a partnership between Kaufman & Broad, the nation''s No. 1 housing developer, and The Bakewell Company, a Los Angeles-based company owned by Danny Bakewell--would be built on 107 acres in the Hayes Park housing area. The second would be a single-family, senior adult housing community in the Stilwell Park area. The bid period for that project closed Friday.

The city is also moving forward with plans to build a 140-room Marriott Courtyard hotel on Del Monte Boulevard near the Embassy Suites and the Hampton Inn. That project is moving forward through the approval process, and construction could begin by mid-2000 or sooner.

Add to these projects the major resort hotel planned for Fort Ord, a number of commercial, retail and entertainment centers, and a new transit center and you''ve got quite a lot on Seaside''s plate (see related story, p. 12). The new councilperson, who will probably take office June 17, will be a deciding vote on many of these issues.

"It''s a critical point in the city''s history,'''' says Mayor Jerry Smith, who was elected in November ''98. "We have a five-member council and obviously this will be the deciding vote that would eliminate the stalemate. That member will be pivotal, as will any other members who represent the same opinion."

Besides breaking any potential stalemates, the newly elected councilperson will vote on several administrative matters facing City Hall, including filling key vacant positions such as the city manager post and a fire chief.

The council has stalled 2-2 on a few key votes lately, including, ironically enough, the decision of who should be appointed to the vacant council seat created by the December resignation of Helen Rucker. It was the council''s inability to choose between 14 applicants for the post that forced Tuesday''s election, which could cost the city as much as $20,000.

The council, meeting in the form of the redevelopment agency, also stalled on a second key vote on May 20: The decision to extend a negotiating agreement that would allow Colorado developer Houston and Goldsmith to build a 10-screen movie theater complex across from the Embassy Suites.

In both votes, Smith and Councilman Tom Mancini firmly lined up against Councilman Darryl Choates and Councilwoman Nancy Amos.

Three candidates are now actively vying for the open seat and, by extension, its tie-breaking potential, although whoever wins will only hold the seat until Rucker''s term expires in November 2000. The winner will have to run for the seat again in 16 months if he wants to remain on the council.

The candidates--Steve Bloomer, Luther Hert, and Lance McClair--bring a mix of political experience and support to the election (see related story, p. 14). A fourth candidate, Lisa Mitchell, withdrew from the race during a candidates'' forum on May 17, although her name will still appear on the ballot.

Where They Stand

Conventional wisdom says the new councilperson will be a swing vote who ends the schism on the City Council--and as such, holds the power to greatly influence the million-dollar projects that will soon be on the city''s agenda.

But sitting councilmembers don''t see themselves as stalled, or even necessarily as divided.

"The fact that the City Council has not been able to come to a consensus on a few issues would give that appearance that there''s a division," Smith says, "but it''s just been on a few of the issues that have been brought forth."

"I''m not at war with anybody, and I don''t see us as that way at all," says Amos. "There have only been a few issues we''ve stalled on, but on most of them we''ve either been 4-0 or 3-1. We''re not supposed to vote the same way all the time, we just need to make sure we share our differences respectfully."

Still, Choates says the board is "in limbo" until a fifth person is seated.

"With a fifth person, we will go forward," he says. "We''ll go forward with development and the limbo will be broken."

There''s no denying that, once the fifth person is seated, what goes forward will be of major importance to the city of Seaside and the rest of the Peninsula as well.

The election has become so important to the candidates, in fact, that a group of Maryland-based telemarketers have begun a phone survey quizzing Seaside residents on what they think the most important issue is and, further, who they''re supporting in the election. When pressed, callers who identify themselves as being from the Maryland-based Gannet Telemarketing, say they''re representing Hert''s camp and are just trying to get the pulse of the voters. Such practice is not unusual during elections, but it is rather curious during a special election of this nature when the winner will only hold the position for a little over a year before having to run again.

"It makes me feel very nervous that we have outside influence involved in a local election," Smith says.

But Smith isn''t the only one made nervous by the telemarketers'' intervention. Hert--the candidate the surveyors are allegedly representing--says he''s never heard of the phone survey. He says didn''t request it, isn''t financing it, and doesn''t know who''s behind it.

Carla Wardlow, a spokeswoman with the Fair Political Practices Committee, says the survey isn''t illegal and doesn''t need to be reported since it doesn''t advocate one candidate over another. It merely polls voters as to their top choice.

Big Bucks

If this election is important to Seaside, it''s because millions of dollars are riding on the decisions the new councilperson will help make.

The councilperson could be expected to cast votes on the Hayes housing project, a deal worked out in 1989 under the previous administration that gave K&B/Bakewell exclusive rights to develop the houses. The city is currently negotiating with the Army to purchase the Fort Ord land the houses will be built on, and it is unknown when that will occur. Once is does, however, the project will come back to city officials for review.

Smith had earlier raised concerns that the original developers'' agreement didn''t provide for assessments that will be levied to pay for the costs of police, fire and public works. The developer is willing to address those concerns, Smith says.

The largest projects on the city''s agenda right now are two dueling hotel proposals, both vying to be chosen for a 408-acre parcel adjacent to Bayonet and Black Horse golf courses and both worth millions to the city in transient occupancy tax (TOT) revenue. TOT is a tax levied on hotel rooms.

That money could greatly help the city rejuvenate its lower Broadway Avenue and downtown areas, Smith says.

The first proposal, from Dick Fitzgerald and Donald Pitt of Seaside Resort Development, LLC, the firm that already runs Sunbay Resorts near Fort Ord, would build a 400-room, four-star Marriott hotel with two ballrooms, conference rooms, a board room and more. (For comparison purposes, the Embassy Suites contains 225 suites, the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Monterey contains 380, and the Hyatt Regency Monterey contains 525 rooms).

Developers'' estimates show the hotel is expected to bring $24,360,000 in room revenues the first year. Seaside''s chunk of that change would come to about $2,923,200 through a 12 percent TOT. The city would also receive an estimated $758,000 in property taxes and about $715,000 on sales tax. About 400 people would be employed at the Marriott, and it is expected to generate over 200,000 visitor days.

The second proposal, floated by Seaside Resort Hotel Partnerships, a union of Hilton Hotels Corp. and K&B/Bakewell of the Hayes housing area fame, would construct a 450-room Hilton with ballroom space, 10 conference rooms and a 500-square-foot business center, plus other amenities.

The Hilton proposal would bring an estimated $2,161,000 in TOT revenue to the city in the first year, according to the developer, and would generate about $717,000 in sales tax and an additional $973,000 in property tax.

"It allows for the city to develop a revenue stream," Smith says. "TOT is the highest income stream a city can garner. I think that''s what''s important, and I think it''s equally important that we bring a quality hotel developer who is going to bring forward a project that is aesthetically pleasing, environmentally sensitive and that will be something that gives us a forum to develop other aspects of our city, our core development, as well."

Either hotel will need an estimated 132-acre-feet of water per year. (A three- bedroom home uses approximately one-quarter-acre-feet of water a year.) The water is already provided for in two basins at Fort Ord, says Rich Guillen, Seaside''s acting city manager.

As for the hotel''s impact on the rest of the Peninsula, Hyatt Regency Monterey General Manager Herb Rafetto says it''s too soon to know how the competition will affect other area hotels.

"Naturally, anytime you bring more product into the marketplace, you increase the competition," he says. "This being said, the marketplace is extremely healthy."

Still, Rafetto shared the concerns voiced by LandWatch''s Patton about the overall affects of these projects on the rest of the Peninsula.

"Even as a hotel operator, I have no problem with the fact that there''s a moratorium on hotels in Monterey," he says. "One of the reasons this area is so clean and crime-free is because the growth is controlled. I''m a firm believer in controlled growth."

But even Patton points out that any potential impacts of Seaside''s proposed projects--whether those impacts will be on traffic, water resources or population growth--will have to be addressed in future environmental impact reports, and those reports are far from being created.

"If and when the council is readying an EIR on that, LandWatch will undoubtedly be providing its perspective," Patton says. "Generally, our highest areas of concern are ones that have to do with sprawl into farmland and other areas where significant natural resources may be lost, but the kind of development that is being discussed in Seaside is obviously something we''d be concerned about as well."

Guillen says it''s unknown when the City Council will take formal action to select one hotel developer over another. The council is still in the preliminary stages of information gathering, he says.

Still, which proposal the candidates support has become a key issue in this election. In candidates'' forums held May 17 and 26, audience members quizzed the candidates on the proposals.

All three candidates said they needed to study the proposals before deciding which they''d support. Bloomer, in an interview with the Weekly, said he found the Marriott proposal more "aesthetically pleasing," but he hasn''t decided if that''s where he would throw his vote, if he were elected.

Among sitting councilmembers, only Choates has indicated firm support for one project over the other. He says he favors the Hilton because it has a commitment to union labor. The Marriott, incidentally, has also signed an agreement indicating it will support unionization if employees choose to do so. Smith and Amos say they are unsure which proposal they''ll choose; and Mancini says that, "aesthetically," he also prefers the Marriott, but he still hasn''t made a final decision.

Whichever proposal is selected, the hotel is of major importance to Seaside''s future plans.

"We need the revenue," Amos says, "and it will attract the tourism for things like the golf Pro Am. It''s very important."

Says Smith, "We''re looking at the project from the standpoint of how it can benefit the city, but we''re also taking a regional outlook. We''re sensitive to the fact that the project has to be sensible and ecology minded...We''re not an island, we have to be sensitive to neighboring cities."

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