Extra-bright lights will be removed; cautious support for AES plans
An aerial photo of the AES site in 2007. Photo by Peter Bernstein
Some Hermosa Beach residents say they’ve had trouble sleeping recently, but it’s not from bad dreams: it’s the new street lights outside their homes.
“They’re horrible. It’s like living in Alaska. Stop the installation right now,” said resident Joe Verbrugge, who lives near Prospect Avenue where a number of the lights have recently been installed.
The new lights were installed as part of a City Council decision earlier this month to change some of the city’s existing sodium-vapor lights to LED lighting. At the time of the vote, council members said that they wanted to take advantage of a program offered by Southern California Edison that allowed the city to reap the energy cost savings from the more efficient light-emitting diode technology, and gave the city a one-time incentive payment of at least $100,000.
Leading up to the vote, several residents cautioned that the switch to the brighter LED lights could have negative consequences. In response, the council agreed at the time of the vote that the LEDs used would be of the 3,000 Kelvin variety, rather than the more intense 4,000 Kelvin.
Since the installation began, however, the city received a stream of complaints. City staff examined the lights and concluded that Edison had installed 4,000 Kelvin lights by mistake, said interim City Manager John Jalili. These lights would be removed and replaced with the 3,000 Kelvin version.
SCE did not immediately return questions about the project.
Letter, with conditions for AES
The Hermosa Beach City offered tentative support at its Tuesday night meeting for a petition from neighboring Redondo Beach to form a special district to finance the purchase of the AES power plant site, citing concerns about future uses that could negatively impact Hermosans.
Redondo has applied to Los Angeles County to form a special district to use future increases in property tax receipts to finance the purchase of the AES site. As a result of Tuesday’s vote, Hermosa will send a letter supporting the petition so long as the redevelopment of the area is confined to “parks, wetlands, site cleanup and related amenities.”
Hermosa councilmembers specifically said they would not be inclined to support the proposal if the future site were to contain “dense housing or anything that’s going to create a lot of traffic.” They emphasized that, although the site is entirely contained within Redondo, its proximity to Hermosa means that residents in the southern portion of the city will be impacted.
“There are more residents in Hermosa Beach than there are residents in Redondo Beach that would be affected by it,” said Councilmember Hany Fangary, noting that large housing developments border AES to the south in Hermosa, while the Redondo portion is surrounded by commercial property.
In previous public statements, Redondo Mayor Bill Brand has said that he wants to prioritize parks and wetlands on the site but has said that some commercial development may be needed. Going forward with the proposal would require a vote of the residents of Redondo Beach.