by Laura Garber
The Hermosa Beach City Council has given the green light for a project that, according to Public Works Director Joe SanClemente, has been “on the books for many years.”
Council unanimously approved a $565,000 contract with Cumming Management Group to oversee the long-delayed City Yard improvement project, which has been in the planning stages for over seven years.
“The existing facility has far exceeded its useful life and is in poor condition with a growing urgency for extensive repairs and renovation to ensure continued use and efficient service delivery,” the City’s staff report read.
In November 2024, as part of a civic center tour, the city hosted an open house at the city yard. Vehicle Fleet Supervisor Jim Beedy told residents on the tour his garage’s low roof and the poor ventilation require some vehicle repair work to be done outside the garage. Beedy is responsible for servicing the city’s 78 vehicles, including its police cars. His garage is thought to have been built in the late 1800s, making it the oldest building in Hermosa. The posts supporting the roof were formerly telephone poles, he said.
The City’s 2025/26 Capital Improvement Project (CIP) budget will partially fund the new City Yard, along with recent revenue increases from citations and parking meter rates, SanClemente said.
“We have about a million dollars in the CIP and about another million in reserves,” SanClemente said. “Enough to really get soft costs going on this project, but it does remain largely unfunded.”
The city’s 2024-25 Capital Improvement Budget lists a new city yard at $21 million.
SanClemente said the oversight contract will more accurately determine an updated budget for the new city yard.
“We have to build that budget so we understand better about what kind of funding that we’re going to need,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re always just going to have a very rough order of magnitude estimate for what the cost could be.”
The pre-construction phase with the Cumming Management Group will focus on environmental assessments, architectural assessments and programming.
“Our approach over the next 3 to 6 months is to focus on the environmental conditions of the site,” said Vice President of Cumming Group, Matthew Feldhaus.
“We’ll make sure that temporary facilities are planned accordingly so that the city does not have any issues with maintaining public safety,” he said.
Mayor Rob Saemann thanked SanClemente and Feldhaus.
“I’d like to just say that this is exciting, that this is actually going to get started. The sooner we get started, the sooner we get finished,” the Mayor said. “It’s been a long time coming.” ER
