Citizen-led organization Rescue Our Waterfront announced during a press conference Monday that they plan to launch a ballot initiative to challenge the City of Redondo Beach’s Waterfront redevelopment plan, helmed by CenterCal Properties.
The intent, the organization said in a press release, is to “submit a citywide ballot initiative which would ensure proper-sized development…with a goal to protect coastal dependent recreational and commercial uses.”
ROW founders Nils Nehrenheim, Candace Nafissi and Martin Holmes held the conference alongside Building A Better Redondo activist Jim Light, who authored Redondo’s Measure DD. Passed in 2008, DD added Article XXVII to the City Charter, a requirement that all major rezoning and land-use changes to go to a public vote, should they meet certain criteria. Those criteria include rezoning from public use to private use, among others.
“Citizens want revitalization, but they want it balanced,” Light said. “We don’t want to lose recreational and coastal dependent uses, which is what we’re getting from the CenterCal plan.”
That, they say, is the key to their initiative: To allow for development and revitalization, but not at the expense of what they feel is the essence of Redondo’s waterfront area.
The initial draft of their initiative, they say, clarifies terms on Measure G, which was passed in 2010 to define the terms of redevelopment along the waterfront. With its passage, voters approved a cap of no more than 400,000 square feet of new development in the harbor and pier area.
Light has been against Measure G since it was proposed by Redondo’s City Council in August 2010, then saying that the measure was “unbalanced,” calling it “bad zoning.”
The draft initiative addresses his problems with G, clarifying language regarding view protection, definitions of open space, interpretation of the development cap and requiring the expansion of Seaside Lagoon.
It will also prohibit parking structures in the harbor portion of the project area and specify parking and access for recreational uses of the harbor.
“We’re going to work with the community,” Nafissi said. “It’s not up to the four of us on this stage to draft the initiative; we’re going to spend the next 60 days to work with the community, going door to door, having meetings, learning what the community wants and how we can get there.”
Redondo Mayor Steve Aspel, who has announced his support of the Waterfront project and supported the passage of Measure G, wasn’t surprised by ROW’s announcement.
“When [AES rezoning plan] Measure B lost, we just said ‘OK, so be it; let’s move on and get better as a city. I guess they don’t believe in losing with grace,” he said. “I know if they get on the ballot, it’ll probably be another divisive issue before the citizens of Redondo Beach.”
It is their right to go through California’s citizens’ initiative process, he says — he just doesn’t agree with their actions. “The CenterCal project is a long way from being finalized,” he said, agreeing that there are issues to be resolved throughout the proposed project. When the project’s plans are submitted, they will have to be approved by the city’s Harbor Commission before going to City Council. “And [Harbor] will tear it apart,” he said. “I guarantee there’s no rubber stamp over there.”
In a statement, CenterCal President Jean Paul Wardy defended his company’s work with the public in producing the Waterfront project.
“The proposed Waterfront project was envisioned after years of engagement and input from the residents of Redondo Beach, honoring the principals of development approved by the voters in 2010. It fits well within Measure G’s constraints, representing just 70 percent of the new development that it allows,” he wrote. “From the thousands of hours spent engaging face to face with Redondo residents, and study after study from independent experts, we know The Waterfront represents a future that renews the waterfront, is responsible to the principles the voters have approved, and provides a stable economic future for our great City.”
For now, ROW aims to raise $30,000 by April 1, to cover costs related to the initiative. However, as indicated in an earlier announcement, ROW would also consider a lawsuit against the city should CenterCal’s plan be approved. “We absolutely would entertain the idea and fundraise for it,” Nafissi said. “If we feel like this isn’t productive, if we need a definite end, we’re happy to gauge our options.”
