Commission Opposes Timeshare Hotel on Harbor Island

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 11, 2008 at 7:27 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

It's strike two for a planned timeshare hotel-resort on Harbor Island, just south of Lindbergh Field. The California Coastal Commission is against allowing timeshares on public land. KPBS reporter Ed

It's strike two for a planned timeshare hotel-resort on Harbor Island, just south of Lindbergh Field. The California Coastal Commission is against allowing timeshares on public land. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The Port of San Diego asked the state coastal commission to do something it's never done: Approve a timeshare hotel-resort on public tidelands. The California Coastal Act allows development of low-cost accommodations on those lands, but Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas told commissioners that private ownership -- the timeshares -- is a bad idea.

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Douglas : These timeshare units simply would not be available as hotel rooms to the general public. They're exclusively available to the owners of the timeshare units. So, exclusivity on public trust lands is clearly contrary to coastal act policies.

Commissioners agreed. Before a vote, the Port withdrew its request. It's likely the Port may work with Woodfin developers to revise the plan. The commission previously rejected Woodfin's application for a coastal permit.

Developers say selling timeshares is crucial to finance the project.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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