City of Redondo Beach
URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 3116-13
AN URGENCY INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA, IMPOSING A MORATORIUM ON DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICAL GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE COASTAL ZONE AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDONDO BEACH,CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY FIND AS FOLLOWS:
WHEREAS, the AES Power Plant was built within the City of Redondo Beach prior to the enactment of the California Coastal Act in 1976, at a time when large electrical generation plants were commonly located near the ocean in order to allow the use of ocean water for cooling of the generating facilities; and
WHEREAS, the California Coastal Act was enacted to protect and preserve the California Coastal Zone as an environmental, recreational and economic resource for the benefit of all Californians; and
WHEREAS, under the California Coastal Act industrial uses, including electrical power generating facilities, are a disfavored use and are encouraged only where the use is coastal dependent, meaning that the use requires a location on or near the ocean in order to be able to function, or where the use is directly supportive of other coastal-related uses, such as fishing or boating; and
WHEREAS, it is necessary to phase out existing land uses that do not conform to the development policies and priorities of the Coastal Act in order to achieve the purposes of the Coastal Act and to maximize long-term beneficial use of the Coastal Zone; and
WHEREAS, the AES Power Plant is located in the coastal zone of the City and is incompatible with other existing and permitted uses in the Harbor-Pier area and adjoining areas of the City, and the AES Power Plant is a source of major visual blight, noise and air pollution that has discouraged economically beneficial new development and redevelopment for higher priority coastal uses in the City’s coastal zone and in the Harbor-Pier area in particular; and
WHEREAS, the City is now undertaking major efforts to encourage redevelopment and revitalization of the Harbor/Pier area of the City’s coastal zone for the benefit of City residents, visitors and businesses; and
WHEREAS, on May 4, 2010 the State Water Resources Control Board adopted Resolution No. 2010-0020, generally requiring thatthe use of existing power plant cooling systems that rely on natural ocean watersbe terminated throughout the State of California by 2020; and
WHEREAS, on October 11, 2012, citizens of the City of Redondo Beach qualified an initiative measure, subsequently designated as Measure A, for the March 5, 2013 municipal election ballot. Measure A, if enacted, would have required termination of all electrical power generating on the AES property by December 31, 2020, and removal of all electrical generating facilities by December 31, 2022. Measure A further substantially limited future redevelopment of the AES property for other economically beneficial uses and required that 60-70% of the property be reserved for open space and public recreational uses; and
WHEREAS, public discussion and debate of Measure A confirmed that the great majority of residents, businesses and property owners in Redondo Beach believe that use of the AES property for electrical generating purposes is inconsistent with the policies of the California Coastal Act, economically damaging to the City as a whole and harmful to the public health, welfare and safety, and that such use should not be continued. Public discussion and debate also confirmed that the majority of residents, business and property owners in the City believe that the owners of the AES property should be treated fairly and should be allowed the opportunity to redevelop the AES property in an economically beneficial manner, consistent with the policies of the California Coastal Act and with the overriding purposes of the City’s General Plan and certified Local Coastal Program.
WHEREAS, on November 20, 2012 AES filed an application with the California Energy Commission for approval of plans to substantially reconstruct the existing AES Power Plant and continue its operations on the AES property for the foreseeable future; and
WHEREAS, the reconstructed AES Power Plant would not be a coastal dependent facility within the meaning of the Coastal Act, and would therefore be inconsistent with the development policies and priorities of the Coastal Act; and
WHEREAS, existing plans and studies have shown that continued use of the AES property for electrical generating facilities is not necessary to guarantee an adequate supply of electricity for the State of California; and
WHEREAS, notwithstanding the plant modifications now proposed by AES, continued operation of electrical generating facilities on the AES property would continue to be incompatible with existing and other permitted uses of property in the surrounding area; would continue to be a source of visual blight, noise and air pollution; and would continue to discourage economically beneficial new development for public recreational uses, visitor-serving commercial uses and other beneficial uses in the City’s coastal zone; and
WHEREAS, on March 5, 2012, Measure A failed to pass by a vote of 6,553votes against versus 6,295 votes in favor; and
WHEREAS, in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare, it is now necessary for the City to undertake action to review and revise applicable provisions of the City’s General Plan, certified Local Coastal Program and the Harbor/Civic Center Specific Plan in order to provide for elimination, within a reasonable time, of electrical generating facilities in the City’s coastal zone and replacementof electrical generating facilities on the AES property with alternate uses that are consistent with the policies of the California Coastal Act and overriding purposes of the City’s certified Local Coastal Program, andwhich will also provide for reasonable economically beneficial use of the property by the owner or owners; and
WHEREAS, an application for approval of any new electrical generating facilities or modified electrical generating facilities in the City’s coastal zone poses an immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, in that approval of such application would serve to perpetuate and extend unnecessary noise, air pollution and visual and economic blight of the City’s coastal zone to the detriment of the public health, safety and welfare, and would prevent implementation of the statewide policies of the California Coastal Act and overriding policies of the City’s General Plan and certified Local Coastal Program; and
WHEREAS, Government Code § 65858 provides that a city council may adopt by a four fifths vote as an urgency measure an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with a general plan or zoning measures that the city is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; and
WHEREAS, City planning staff have fully evaluated the potential environmental effects of adoption of the interim ordinance temporarily barring discretionary approvals for new or modified electrical generating facilities in the City’s coastal zone, and the City Council has, concurrently with consideration of this ordinance, approved a negative declaration certifying that the interim ordinance would not cause any significant environmental effects within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. There is hereby imposed a moratorium on the approval of any conditional use permit, coastal development permit or any other discretionary City permit or approval for the construction, expansion, replacement, modification or alteration of any facilities for the on-site generation of electricity on any property located within the coastal zone, as designated by the California Coastal Act, within the City of Redondo Beach.
Section 2. It is the intent of the City Council that any proposal for new or modified non-coastal dependent electrical generating facilities within the City’s coastal zone during the period of the moratorium shall be considered inconsistent with this Ordinance and with the City’s land use policies and zoning regulations for all purposes, and by all agencies charged with reviewing any application for such use.
SECTION 3. This Ordinance shall be of no further force and effect 45 days from its date of adoption unless timely extended by further action of the City Council.
SECTION 4. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that anyone or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 5. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this ordinance, and shall make a minute of the passage and adoption thereof in the records and proceedings of the City Council at which the same is passed and adopted. This ordinance shall be published by one insertion in the Easy Reader, the official newspaper of said City, and the same shall go into effect and be in full force and operation immediately.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 3rdday of December, 2013.
Steve Aspel, Mayor
ATTEST:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS
CITY OF REDONDO BEACH )
I, Eleanor Manzano, City Clerk of the City of Redondo Beach, California, do hereby certify that the foregoing Urgency Interim Ordinance No.3116-13 was duly introduced, approved and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the3rdday ofDecember, 2013, by the following vote:
AYES: GINSBURG, BRAND, AUST, SAMMARCO, KILROY
NOES: NONE
ABSENT: NONE
ABSTAIN: NONE
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Eleanor Manzano, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
__________________________
Michael W. Webb, City Attorney
Easy Reader Inc/Redondo Beach News/December 12, 2013/RD13-095
