The Redondo Beach City Council restructured parking payment rates by the waterfront in what was the biggest action during an otherwise breezy meeting.
The new resolution was made to adjust a previously-adopted resolution, with the aim of giving a break to users of Redondo Beach Marina’s surface parking lot, particularly for users of the city’s Seaside Lagoon.
According to staff reports, the previous resolution removed the “decades-old” validated ticket rate for visitors of the Lagoon, hoping that would encourage visitors to visit businesses within the Marina in order to earn validated parking.
But, as summer business at the Lagoon began, resident complaints rolled in, encouraging staff to begin ticket validation anew for Lagoon visitors. With the passage of this new resolution, parking validation returns for Seaside Lagoon, capping parking payment rates at $6 with a validated ticket.
The staff report, given by newly-hired Waterfront and Economic Development Director Stephen Proud, also recommended a parking fee cap for users of the soon-to-be-repaired boat hoist.
Users of the hoist will now be charged $4 for the first 12 hours of parking, $8 for the next 12 hours, and $12 per day for each additional day. The previous fee structure charged hoist users $2 an hour with no maximum.
The only bone of contention was that of a staff-recommended $30 lost-ticket fee for users of the Marina parking lot — a price that seemed punitive to members of the Council.
“We don’t necessarily want to ding someone for $30 — maybe get them on the spot, but maybe allow them to appeal the charge,” District 2 Councilman Bill Brand said.
But before discussion of a lost-ticket fee crawled too deeply into the weeds, City Manager Joe Hoefgen noted that the staff recommendation wasn’t included on the proposed resolution.
Council notebook
With the absence of Mayor Steve Aspel, as well as District 5 Councilwoman Laura Emdee, newly-appointed Mayor Pro Tem and District 1 representative Jeff Ginsburg was in charge.
“It was the first time I’ve run a meeting since I was on the Public Works Commission,” Ginsburg said, “but I got the hang of it at the end.”
Ginsburg called it “good practice,” noting that “you never know when you might need to do it again.”
The council approved a request an internal auditing process requested by City Treasurer Steve Diels.
“We’re long overdue in this,” Diels said during his report, noting that examples of mismanagement and financial irregularities in the cities of Pasadena and Hawthorne, coupled with the 2009 retirement of Redondo’s internal auditor, call for renewed interest in internal policing.
Funding for the position comes from savings made by Measure CT’s reduction of the city treasurer’s salary.
Council approval came without discussion.
