shuffle Developer Cliff Ratkovich and lobbyist Carl Kemp have quietly disappeared from the leadership team of the proposed Second+PCH project, Greater Long Beach has learned.  Their departure is apparently related to delays and consequent financial problems caused by a shoddy environmental impact report and widespread community resistance to the venture.

“These changes come as a result of the project being delayed,” confirmed David Malmuth, who remains the lead developer—but now as president of his own company, David Malmuth Development, rather than as a representative of RCLCO’s Development Services Group. “Our business is time and money, and the more of either that passes, the more uncertainty is created.”

Although Malmuth is the last man standing from the original trio that began pushing Second+PCH’s hotel/residential/retail plan more than two years ago—and the lone holdover from the project’s first incarnation as a creature of mega-developer Lennar—he didn’t stay lonely too long.

Ratkovich’s absence has been filled by Stephen T. Conley, the chairman of Bancap Investment Group, while Kemp has been replaced by attorney Alex Cherin, who recently opened a law firm, the Cherin Group, (disclosure: the Cherin Group advertises with Greater Long Beach) that markets itself as a representative of environmentally friendly companies.

Considering how quickly Malmuth restocked his lineup, it’s not exactly clear how the financial strain, procedural holdups and community opposition ultimately manifested in the departure of Ratkovich and Kemp—who are still featured in the video on the Second+PCH website.

Malmuth insisted the men left voluntarily to pursue other career options, unwilling to wait for the environmental impact report (EIR) to be revised and recirculated.

 “It was hard to lose Cliff (Ratkovich) because I’m close to him and I have such respect for him, but I had to respect his decision,” Malmuth said. “Carl (Kemp), too; he’s a very busy fella with a lot on his plate and he felt he had to reprioritize.”

However, multiple sources close to the Second+PCH project outlined a different scenario in which Malmuth cut loose Ratkovich and Kemp as part of a two-pronged strategy: first, to relieve a tightening money flow from the property owners Ray and Amy Lin of Taki Sun, Inc. (one source asserted that Kemp had been asked to work without pay); and second, because Malmuth may be changing tactics—seeking to pull political strings at City Hall rather than push for community support.

Two phone calls to Ratkovich’s home on the Alamitos Peninsula elicited no comment. The first time, a voicemail request for an interview went unreturned. The second time, Ratkovich would not come to the phone; the woman who answered said he was sick in bed and that she did not know when he might be well enough to talk.

But Kemp indicated in a telephone interview that his departure from the Second+PCH team was not voluntary. When asked whether he had had been requested to work without pay, he constructed his answer carefully.

“The reason I left is due to financial constraints,” said Kemp. “The leadership of the team did not feel they would be able to afford the services I provided and told me they did not feel they needed a whole lot more government-affairs help.”

Yet Conley and Cherin bring a wealth of government-affairs expertise to the Second+PCH project.

Conley has long been a major player around City Hall; of the 10 current elected officials who convene City Council meetings every week, Conley has made campaign contributions to six of them—Mayor Bob Foster, Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal and council members Robert Garcia, Gary DeLong, Dee Andrews and James Johnson. Additionally, Conley held chairmanships on both of DeLong’s campaign committees—2005 and 2010—during his two successful runs to represent the 3rd district … the site of the Second+PCH development.

Interestingly, Conley’s Bancap Investment Group leases a swath of city property along the Long Beach Marina, where businesses like Schooner or Later restaurant and the Seal Beach Yacht Club are located—and across Marina Drive from the Second+PCH site. Conley’s influence upon elected officials was illustrated last spring when Bancap requested that the City Council grant a $3,000 reduction in its monthly rent because one of its subtenants—the Seal Beach Yacht Club—was struggling to pay its rent. The council approved the request, 7-1, with only former council member Tonia Reyes Uranga dissenting.

Cherin’s career has made significant stops at City Hall and the Port of Long Beach.  As an assistant city auditor, he worked in conjunction with Foster to pass the Public Safety Oil Tax Initiative in 2006. As the Executive Officer to the Harbor Commission, Cherin … well, here are excerpts from his biography on the Port of Long Beach website: “coordinated all administrative and communications functions for the Board, made recommendations on public policy issues, provided liaison with elected officials and public policy bodies, and coordinated trade missions and conferences, among other duties. He also ensured that all necessary legal requirements were followed in the execution of the Board’s orders. During his tenure, he provided leadership with the mitigation for the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project, coordinated and participated in high-level meetings with Port customers throughout the world, and supported the Port’s Clean Trucks Program.”

That was known as Foster’s Clean Trucks Program, too.

In an interview, Cherin said he officially began working for Second+PCH last week after several weeks of discussion with the project’s principals. “I was approached by them after Carl [Kemp] left,” Cherin said. “My understanding is that he left voluntarily, that it was amicable.”

Cherin downplayed questions about the significance of the changes in Second+PCH’s leadership team, minimizing speculation that his arrival with Conley foreshadows a major change in tactics—from emphasizing community outreach to a focus on influencing the officials and staff (on the Planning Commission, City Council and California Coastal Commission) who will determine the project’s fate.

“We’re going to work on both,” said Cherin. “Both entities—the Long Beach government and the Long Beach citizens—have a vested interest in a good project. I can help in both areas—with the city side, making sure the city staff’s questions are answered, and also working with community, too, making sure they have a more active role in upcoming process.”

The difficulties facing Second+PCH are mostly of its own making; on the site of a two-story hotel, the developers are proposing a vast multi-use project that violates a plethora of zoning laws—most notably a 12-story hotel where a 35-foot height limit is proscribed—and dumps hundreds of more cars into one of Long Beach’s most-congested intersections. Something’s got to give—Second+PCH’s plans or a 30-year tradition of low-density development on Long Beach’s east side.

“I don’t know if this signals a new direction, but it probably does indicate a willingness to look at issues that they haven’t looked at before or look at strategic avenues they haven’t tried before,” Cherin said. “It signals a willingness to look at the project from different angles.”

However, things nearly ground to a halt last spring with the release of the environmental impact report, which was riddled with illogical analyses and consequently absurd conclusions. It has been sent back to be re-thought and rewritten.

“Our first priority is to make sure that some of the confusion in the first EIR is cleared up,” said Cherin. “We need a solid document where all groups can find common ground, and I think that’s doable.”

In the face of these environmental concerns, is Cherin comfortable that accepting Second+PCH as a client was a decision true to the environmentally sensitive mission he claims for his new firm?

“Absolutely,” he insisted. “If you dig into what the developers want to do here, I think you will see that there will be a greater and greater role for environmental groups and  Second+PCH will ultimately be considered an asset to the area.”