Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Ballot on Snack Shack menu?

Commissioners lean toward letting voters decide.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA, Times Correspondent
Published August 12, 2007

The future of the beachfront Snack Shack at Archibald Park appears headed for a citywide referendum and a possible court battle.

A majority of city commissioners made it clear Tuesday they plan to vote against a petition-proposed ordinance calling for the renovation and reopening of the 1930s-era Snack Shack.

The commission is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at Tuesday's meeting, but is not required to pass it, under the city charter's voter petition rules.

Those rules mandate a citywide referendum within one year if the commission rejects the petition-proposed ordinance. It's likely the commission will let the voters decide the issue next March.

"I would bring it before the city, the 75 percent of city voters who didn't sign the petition," said Commissioner Steve Kochick.

"I don't want to do it. Let the citizens decide," said Commissioner Arnold Alloway.

More than 25 percent of city voters signed a petition calling for either the ordinance or a voter referendum.

The commission decided in April to tear the historic log cabin down. Several years ago, a failed plan to renovate the Snack Shack as a "destination restaurant" ended up costing the city $500,000 to settle a lawsuit with the concessionaire.

Eddie Lee, organizer of the Save Our Snack Shack petition drive, hopes a large number of residents will show up at Tuesday's meeting to urge a favorable vote.

He mailed notices of the meeting, not only to the 846 certified registered voters who signed the petition, but to the more than 1,000 other city and area residents who also signed the petition.

"I hope we get a good turnout. This is crunch time. We want to change the commission's mind," said Lee, who acknowledges that, most likely, the issue will be decided in a referendum.

Already armed with a quarter of the city's voters, he is confident that a referendum will be successful.

"The petition is not a failure. We have nearly double the voters of what any of you got in your elections," Lee told the commission.

Whether the ordinance is passed into law, the city faces another issue - what can legally be done with the Snack Shack and the beach park as a whole. The U.S. Department of the Interior deeded the park and the log cabin to the city in 1972 with the provision that it be used for public recreation, including recreation-related concessions.

But Alex Archibald, a descendant of the original property owner, is challenging that deed, arguing that the original donation to the Interior Department in 1931 prohibited any commercial use on the property.

He hired an attorney and is threatening to take the city to court unless it agrees to stop all commercial activities, including rental of beach umbrellas and maybe the collection of parking meter fees.

In a recent letter to the city, Ken Weiss, Archibald's attorney, warned the city it could cost upwards of $50,000 to defend a lawsuit over commercial use of the park.

On Tuesday, the commission returned the challenge, rejecting Archibald's demands.

"If someone wants to start litigation, let them start," said Mayor Charles Parker. "I think Archibald is trying to bluff. He doesn't have any right to bring legal action."

A majority of the commissioners said they will formally vote Tuesday to continue operating concessions and collecting parking meter fees at Archibald Park.

"I am very, very comfortable that if challenged in court we should prevail," said City Attorney Michael Connolly.

"I hope that they sue," said City Manager Jill Silverboard. She also said rumors that the city wants to allow intense commercial use, including high-rise condominiums of the park, are "inaccurate representations" and prohibited by the city's land use plan.

[Last modified August 11, 2007, 23:02:42]