The Santa Monica Conservancy has recently created Friends of 415 (www.friendsof415.org), a committee including a broad coalition of community leaders and residents interested in building awareness of the historic renovation and public beach club proposed for the former Marion Davies Estate.

The one-of-a-kind public beach club and historic renovation is in jeopardy, threatened by a handful of nearby beachfront property owners.

The Annenberg Foundation has given Santa Monica almost $30 million to build the crown jewel of public recreational facilities on a piece of beachfront property valued at $45 million and contributed to the project by the State of California.

"The community-benefit and innovation of this project would be without rival among all of Santa Monica's public facilities," Friends of 415 Chair Joel Brand said. "This is a once-in-our-lifetimes opportunity for Santa Monica, made possible only through the incredible generosity and vision of the Annenberg Foundation."

Amenities in the design include: complete restoration of the North House, the restored historic swimming pool, a kids; pool, a beach playground with a water feature, volleyball courts, paddle tennis courts, an events room, community meeting rooms, a snack bar, on-site and shuttle parking, among others.

As part of the public process, some modifications have been made in order to minimize potential negative impacts on residents living nearby – including cutting in half the capacity of the events room to 100 people, full-time security staffing, 10 pm weekday and11 pm weekend curfews on even indoor events, and many others, including a commitment to lobby Caltrans for a much-needed traffic signal for the facility.

But while this package of restrictions on the proposed beach club has addressed the concerns of most PCH neighbors, a handful want to still further limit public use. This small group of neighbors are threatening to sue to block this public beach club along Santa Monica’s coast unless they are granted still more concessions.

Most critically, the threatened lawsuit, if pursued, could delay the project long enough to miss both Annenberg Foundation and State of California deadlines and create cost overruns and other complications, that together could kill this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Santa Monica. Such a blow would end nearly 20 years of efforts to renovate the historic property and open it to public use.

If that happens the property, which is owned by the State of California, will almost certainly revert to state control. The state is reported to have considered selling the land as surplus property, which would be valued at as much as $45 million as parcels for condominiums.

By contrast, the proposed beach club is an almost unprecedented development partnership between a community and a private foundation. Success at 415 PCH would send a strong message to the foundation community that Santa Monica is fertile ground for such visionary partnerships.

Residents who wish to weigh in on this issue should visit www.friendsof415.org for more information.