Avalon

Representatives from the city, the Santa Catalina Island Co. and Southern California Edison will meet this month in an effort to save public showers in the city.

The City Council on Tuesday night continued until next month Mayor George Scott’s appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval for a restaurant on the beachfront site where the showers now stand. Scott argues that there is a public need for the showers.

The Island Co., which owns the property, wants to tear down the 40-year-old public showers, which are used primarily by visitors and yachtsmen, and put up a more profitable restaurant.

New showers cannot readily be put up because fresh water is rationed on Santa Catalina Island. Commercial property owners are allocated water based on the nature of their business, and that allotment stays with the location if the property is sold or the use changes.