After NoPowerPlant.com and Building a Better Redondo (BBR) submitted 7,468 valid signatures required to get the AES power plant zoning initiative on the ballot, the City Council decided to postpone their decision about how to proceed after the City received an email at around noon on Tuesday from NoPowerPlant.com lawyers Strumwasser & Woocher threatening a potential lawsuit if the initiative is not put on the ballot. In response, at 4:07 p.m. the City also received a letter from AES Southland President Eric Pendergraft also implying a potential lawsuit if the initiative is put on the ballot.
Both cited City Charter article 27, which was approved by the voters in 2008 as Measure DD and governs major changes in allowable land use in Redondo Beach. However, each party interpreted the Charter in different ways.
“I came here ready to put it on the March ballot,” said Councilmen Steve Aspel. “… I just want this over and done with. It’s going to cost a fortune in legal fees no matter what.”
Pendergraft wrote in his letter that Article 27 is intended to “ensure that the voters of Redondo Beach receive all necessary and accurate environmental information on proposals for major changes in allowable land use, so that they may intelligently vote on any such proposal”. He stressed that a thorough environmental report needs to be done and asked the Council to follow the City Charter.
NoPowerPlant.com’s letter said that any such study must be presented to the Council “no later than 30 days after the elections official certifies to the legislative body the sufficiency of the petition,” and said that the deadline would then be November 14. From that date, the council has 10 days to order an election.
City Planning Director Aaron Jones explained that getting the initiative on the ballot by March with a thorough environmental review would be expensive and almost impossible within that timeframe.
The NoPowerPlant.com’s letter warned, “The Council would be well-advised to place the measure on the March 5, 2013, ballot tonight. If the Council chooses to request a study, the Council will be required to place the measure on the March 2013 ballot no later than November 26, 2012. If the Council does not act as the Elections Code requires, NoPowerPlant.com will be forced to seek a judicial order placing the measure on the ballot, subjecting the City to potential liability for NoPowerPlant.com’s attorneys’ fees in the likely event that it prevails…”
“No matter what choice we make we’ll end up in court,” said councilmember Pat Aust. “It’s just crazy.”
City attorney Mike Webb suggested that since they only received the letters shortly before the meeting, it would be prudent to take time to study additional options. “It’s very complicated,” Webb said. “You have to put it on the ballot, the question is the timing.”
“I don’t want to get sued by anybody,” councilmember Matt Kilroy said. “There’s no problem with a little more time.”
The council will reconvene on November 6 to make a decision. ER
