RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) -- Donald Trump's development group pulled its plans to build 225 hotel rooms at the real estate mogul's golf course here in the face of furious opposition from residents and City Council members.
City Hall received more than 200 e-mails on the proposed development, most of them adamantly opposed to the project, according to The Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif. Residents and elected officials alike teed off on the proposal at a heated City Council meeting this week.
"If the e-mails are any indication, I think pigs will fly before you get this sited in the community," Councilman Peter Gardiner told Vinnie Stellio, Trump's local representative.
"We should suggest to Mr. Trump that he build his bungalows in Los Angeles, where his golf course is located," said resident Pete Fowler, sarcastically referring to the course's name of Trump National Golf Course, Los Angeles, which has infuriated locals.
Stellio told the City Council that residents had some "misconceptions" about the proposal, which he said he would revise and return with later.
"I don't think they have a grasp of what we're trying to achieve here based on what I've seen and heard," Stellio said, adding later, "I've had a lot of success in this business informing people ... [so] they come to reason that it's not as bad as it seems."
Rancho Palos Verdes, a tony community on a lush peninsula south of Los Angeles, has a long history of opposition to large-scale development. The city incorporated in 1973 to stop dense development that Los Angeles County government foisted on the area.
Trump's golf course has not opened to the public but hosted its inaugural tournament, the Office Depot LPGA Championship, last weekend.
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