PLANNED Nickelodeon Hotel and Resort for Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove.

By Jim Tortolano
Orange County Tribune

A special election costing as much as $1 million will likely be called by the Garden Grove City Council to settle a protest of an ordinance approving the zoning for a 500-room, 23-story Nickelodeon hotel on Harbor Boulevard.

On Tuesday the council is expected to set the election for June 8, 2027 in which the ordinance would be submitted for approval by voters.

The Nickelodeon project – long delayed by economic factors and the COVID-19 pandemic – is considered by the city to be important to the “long-term development, employment and tax base” of Garden Grove, according to a staff report.

The council approved the ordinance in question in June, and the Unite Here Local 11 hotel workers union – arguing that the site would be better devoted to affordable housing – began a petition drive to put the ordinance before voters.

The petition drive – which gathered the signatures of the required 10 percent of Garden Grove’s registered voters – brought some conflict between members of construction trades unions which would be building the luxury hotel.

Location of the development would be at the corner of Twintree Lane and Harbor, immediately south of the Sheraton Hotel.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave,