Crossfit Horsepower deemed a nuisance, may face penalties
The Hermosa Beach City Council deemed Crossfit Horsepower a public nuisance at its Tuesday night meeting, allowing for possible future measures that could include suspending the business’ license.
Councilmembers were convinced by a presentation from Deputy City Prosecutor Joy Abaquin, who had been retained to make the case that the business constituted a nuisance, laying out three legal routes under which the council could make that finding, including alleged violations of multiple sections of the city’s municipal code. Abaquin highlighted emailed complaints from residents that variously compared noise and shaking emanating from the gym to that caused by “an earthquake” and “the T-Rex from ‘Jurassic Park.’”
Although the gym has instituted multiple mitigation measures, including a policy against dropping weights — which has been blamed for much of the problematic noise and vibration, and which gym goers said was common practice in other Crossfit gyms — she argued that the violations were likely to continue to recur. Several affected residents said in public testimony that a pattern had emerged over the years in which problems would dissipate following increased public scrutiny, only to reemerge in subsequent months.
“Even with the no-weight-dropping policy, it’s still going to happen. It’s just the nature of Crossfit: people are going to push themselves,” Abaquin said.
Horsepower owners Jed Sanford and Dan Wells were joined in objecting by Horsepower devotees, many of them in workout attire, and some of whom live near Horsepower’s Cypress Avenue location and said they had not felt the shaking or vibrations.
“Despite living only one block away, I have never been negatively affected by Crossfit Horsepower. I have not experienced any of the noise or vibrations,” said Ryan Zachos, a gym member who lives on Loma Drive behind the facility.
Although the gym goers were skeptical that the facility’s activities were responsible for the impacts residents felt, they were polite and apologetic about the residents’ negative experiences. Indeed, despite the nearly four-year history of complaints about the gym, disputes on the dias appeared more intense than those in the audience. The nuisance hearing was the first the city had ever held, Mayor Jeff Duclos said in introductory remarks, and the awkwardness of the trial-like proceedings for elected officials was evident throughout the night.
Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Wells, and Sanford and sought a continuance to allow their attorney to be present. Albro Lundy, of Hermosa firm Baker, Burton & Lundy, had sent a letter to the city June 22 seeking a two-month continuance because he was unable to be present that night and wanted more time to prepare. The city posted relevant documents about the hearing, including of hundreds of emailed complaints with residents’ names redacted, on Thursday.
Councilmember Hany Fangary said that he was troubled at the prospect of forcing Horsepower to endure a nuisance hearing without an attorney and with only a few days to review relevant documents. Fangary said he “felt so strongly” about the issue that he contemplated not attending the meeting in order to deny the council a quorum and prevent the hearing from taking place.
City Attorney Michael Jenkins, who consulted with Fangary before Tuesday’s meeting, disagreed that conducting the hearing posed due process concerns. The date had been announced May 22, Jenkins noted, and the city had not received a public record request from Horsepower’s attorney until July 9.
Other claims from Sanford and Wells — that a scientific measurement of noise or vibration had not been done, and that the complaints came from an insufficiently large number of residents — gained less traction with council, including Fangary. Under the municipal code, neither was necessary for the city to declare a business a nuisance.
The council set a date of August 28 for the issue to return to council for discussion of possible abatement measures. (Fangary abstained.) Although interim City Manager John Jalili said that did not give staff much breathing room, Mayor pro tem Stacey Armato said the issue had been going on long enough.
“We’re not going to keep pushing this thing down the road unnecessarily,” she said.