Just a Little Trip-Up in the Rush to Approve the UCLA Hotel

Readers of this blog will know that the proposed UCLA hotel-conference center has many pitfalls, legal, tax-wise, and financial.

And now the Regents and the donors are the target of a lawsuit.  This problem, as we have noted oh so many times, might have been avoided by a) scaling down the project to something reasonable, and b) talking and negotiating with those folks and interests in the community that had concerns about the project. UCLA bulled ahead, however, getting the donors to sign a letter stating that no alternative was OK.  Ironically, that step opened the door to a legal challenge since state environmental law requires a review of alternatives.  Ruling out alternatives meant that the alternative review that UCLA purported to make was essentially a sham. One of the Regents pointed this fact out back at the July Regents meeting. By bulling ahead, in short, UCLA has succeeded in embarrassing a major donor.  Read on:

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Save Westwood Village: A Business-Community Alliance Dedicated to Quality Revitalization

SAVE WESTWOOD VILLAGE CHALLENGES UC REGENTS APPROVAL OF 250 ROOM UCLA LUSKIN HOTEL

Los Angeles – Save Westwood Village filed suit today in Los Angeles Superior Court to challenge the UC Regents’ September 11, 2012 approval of the 250 room $162 million UCLA Luskin Hotel on Lot 6, adjacent to Pauley Pavilion. UCLA hotel donors Renee and Meyer Luskin are named as real parties in interest. The mission of the University of California is research and teaching, not operating hotels. Save Westwood Village supports a conference center but not a UCLA hotel financed by bonds secured with student housing fees.

 

The lawsuit alleges environmental impacts from UCLA’s failure to pay local taxes for the Luskin Hotel and existing UCLA hotels, inadequate fire protection service in Westwood, pre-commitment regarding alternative projects, and violation of city zoning.

Based on square footage, the Luskin Conference and Guest Center is 91.5 percent hotel. It will charge $224/night but not collect the city’s 15.5 percent hotel and tourism tax. The hotel tax has a profound impact on the environment by funding vital city services including emergency fire and police service. UC Santa Cruz collected this tax for the University Inn; UC Davis’ Hyatt Place collects local hotel taxes; Cal Poly Pomona’s on-campus Kellogg-West Conference Center and the USC Radisson also collect this tax.

Whether on or off campus, part of a hotel chain or managed by the campus, only federal/state employees, Federal Credit Union employees, or foreign diplomats are exempt from Los Angeles transient occupancy tax.  UCLA does not collect this tax at any of its hotels on or off campus (Tiverton House, Faculty Guest House, Courtside Collection and dorms rented during the summer).

In 2008 the L.A. Fire Department reported that service in the area was inadequate. It is even worse now. LAFD receives about 1100 calls from the UCLA campus annually that cost the city at least $1.7 million. With the addition of the Luskin hotel to existing campus hotels, UCLA deprives the city of millions of dollars needed for our firefighters and other critical city services.

CEQA requires an objective analysis of alternatives. In March UC Regents refused to approve financing for the Luskin Hotel and required UCLA to explore less costly and risky alternatives including the purchase an existing hotel. Instead of a good faith evaluation of alternatives, the Regents received a secret letter from the Luskins dated July 3, 2012, that insisted on Lot 6. That letter short-circuited the evaluation of alternatives. On July 17, six weeks prior to the release of the Final EIR, the Regents approved a financial plan similar to the one they refused to approve in March. Certification of the Final EIR on September 11, 2012, did not address alternatives because the commitment to a hotel on Lot 6 had already been made in July.

UCLA’s campus is zoned Public Facilities in the Westwood Community Plan. A hotel is not permitted in this zone. In 1999 UCLA received a zone variance from Los Angeles for cell towers on campus. The approval states that the campus is subject to city zoning.

UC is a public trust that requires its Regents to exercise due diligence. The Regents failed to uphold their duty by accepting inaccurate and nonsensical responses to their tough questions and backing down from their demand for less costly alternatives.

Attached is a copy of the conformed complaint.

Laura Lake, Ph.D., Co-President

Save Westwood Village

A Business-Community Alliance Dedicated to Quality Revitalization

310-470-4522

1557 Westwood Blvd. #235, Los Angeles, CA 90024

You can read the lawsuit below:

Open publication - Free publishing - More ucla

Update: Corrected scan below:

Open publication - Free publishing - More ucla