,
president, AES Southland
For more than a century, the privately owned power plant on Harbor Drive has dominated the Redondo Beach waterfront. And AES has owned and operated the plant for the last 17 years. This is also about the length of time the community has been debating what should be done with the 50-acre site.
For the last several years, city leaders and countless residents and business owners have been encouraging us to look for an alternative that would be acceptable to us and allow Redondo Beach to have an industrial free waterfront for the first time in over a hundred years.
At a city council meeting on March 19, 2013, I publically confirmed our commitment to explore these alternatives, even while we were actively pursuing a permit to build a new power plant. This commitment was re-confirmed at city council meetings in April, June and July of 2013. Measure B is the culmination of that effort and it will appear on the March ballot.
Measure B phases out the power plant and guarantees the site can never again be used for industrial purposes. It rezones the land, and lets the City of Redondo Beach create a new “Harbor Village” on the site, with more than half the property dedicated to an attractive coastal neighborhood combined with a vibrant mixed-use area along Harbor Drive. At least 10 acres – or about 20 percent of the entire site – must be permanent public open space for all to enjoy.
Harbor Village will be a great place to gather and have fun, where people can jog, ride bikes, enjoy a meal, or have a drink with friends. Just imagine, instead of traveling to Hermosa or Manhattan Beach, Redondo would have its own crown jewel.
Harbor Village will be a big boost for the economy, creating hundreds of new jobs and generating over $4 million a year for the city that can be used to improve services. The third party analysis that details the sources of this new revenue can be found at YesOnBforRedondo.com. The study has been reviewed by the current city treasurer who has validated the results and confirmed this is more than enough revenue to pay for the additional services required by the project.
The school district will receive approximately $4 million in developer fees prior to the construction to improve facilities for accommodating the additional students and then receive money annually for each new student from the Harbor Village that attends a Redondo school. This funding is required by California law and has been confirmed by current school board member Laura Emdee.
Redondo Beach Mayor Steve Aspel has enthusiastically endorsed Measure B, calling it “a smart, responsible proposal that provides enormous benefits for our community and treats AES fairly … a shared victory for all sides.” A majority of the City Council, along with former Mayor Mike Gin, the Chamber of Commerce, Redondo Beach police and firefighters, and other community leaders from education, city planning, parks and recreation, public works, finance and the art community agree — “Yes” on B.
But even a balanced plan like Measure B can still have opponents — some who zealously push a narrow agenda, blind to the realities of a fair compromise that is good for everyone. They imply that they know exactly what AES will do if Measure B loses and portray themselves as experts in everything, including traffic, the complex electricity industry and land use planning. They make unsupported claims and ignore the safeguards that are in place to make sure Redondo Beach gets what it wants.
Measure B puts new zoning in place and eliminates the power plant. That’s all. The actual Harbor Village plan must be approved by both the California Coastal Commission and the City Council. This process requires a comprehensive environmental assessment and traffic analysis to comply with California’s strict laws. The project cannot move forward without these approvals. This ensures Redondo will have control over the design and construction of Harbor Village, not just the developer.
Furthermore, the developer, not taxpayers, must pay for any needed road improvements to prevent additional traffic congestion or the project must be modified to address any significant impacts. If this doesn’t occur, it also won’t receive the approvals necessary to proceed. I urge you not to let this amazing opportunity slip through your fingers before the potential traffic impacts have even been assessed. If Measure B is successful, the traffic assessment will be a critically important step in the process before any project approvals can be obtained.
Finally, please don’t be fooled by people who say that no matter what happens with Measure B, the plant’s going away and there will never be another industrial development on the property. AES is an energy company. Our core business is making electricity. Land development is not something we normally do, but we have proposed Measure B to be responsive to city leaders and the community and put an end to over a decade of debate. It is a win-win solution that is only possible because of the prime coastal location of the property.
If Measure B fails, we intend to go back to pursuing options that are consistent with our core business. These include looking at a new power plant again, a desalination facility or a large scale battery storage project. Battery storage is a technology that continues to grow and we are the industry leader. In fact, we were just awarded the largest battery project in the world in Long Beach. I won’t predict which one of these options will be successful, if any, but I will tell you that the guarantee of an industrial free waterfront disappears if Measure B loses.
Instead, together, you can vote for progress and a plan we can all be proud of — a plan that will make long term positive change for residents and one that provides absolute certainty that Redondo Beach will have something that they haven’t had in more than one hundred years — a waterfront without towering industrial structures.
Please take a few minutes to learn more about Measure B by visiting www.YesonBforRedondo.com or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/YesonB4RedondoBeach. I think once you do, you will come to the same conclusion — that Measure B is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and its approval will start a wonderful new day for Redondo Beach.
