by Kevin Cody

The newly formed Hermosa Beach Civic Facilities Community Advisory Group held its first meeting Monday night. 

Formation of the 12-member Advisory Group was approved by the City Council in February. Its assignment is to study options for a new, or renovated Hermosa Civic Center, to include the City Hall, the Police Station and the Public Works Yard. 

At that same February meeting the council approved retention of Jefferey Fullerton, of Fullerton Consulting Partners, for $47,760, to assist in a cost analysis for a new or renovated civic center. 

Fullerton, who attended Monday night’s Advisory Group meeting, estimated in a report to the council the cost of a new civic center at $80 million to $130 million.

Last June, the council approved $179,380 to retain the Lee Andrews Group to gather public input on plans for a new or renovated civic center.

Public Works Superintendent John Cordova describes moving vehicles in and out of the city yard as “musical chairs.”

The advisory group, according to the city website, will hold up to five meetings “to assist the City Manager in formulating recommendations to the City Council.”

Monday’s meeting in the City Council chambers was not open to the public, nor the press. 

The Advisory Group is not subject to the State Brown Act, which requires most government bodies to meet in public, according to an email from City Public Information Officer Ryan Walker. Walker was responding on behalf of City Attorney Patrick Donegan. 

“There will be a number of upcoming Civic Facilities meetings that will be open to the public,” Ryan wrote in his email.

Assistant Superintendent Ana Tenorio tells residents the city work areas are not ADA compliant, nor up to current building codes.

The city’s Civic Center facilities outreach efforts began last month, on October 30, with a public tour of the City Hall and the Police Station.

During the tour, Public Works Director Joseph SanClemente told residents his largest number of work orders is for Civic Center maintenance. The Civic Center plumbing and electrical systems are beyond economic repair, he said. 

The fundamental problem with the current Civic Center, City Manager Suja Lowenthal told tour attendees, is lack of space. The current Civic Center has  58,000 square feet. The Civic Center needs 76,000 square feet to function efficiently, Lowenthal said.

This past Saturday, November 23, the city hosted its second public civic center tour, at the city yard. As with the City Hall and Police Station, lack of space was cited as a significant problem with 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.

The City Yard sign-making department displaced covered storage for equipment and vehicles, Maintenance worker Rudy Molina tells visitors, including City Councilmember Justin Massey.

Maintenance worker Rudy Molina spoke about the city’s new sign-making shop. Signs that used to take a month to replace when the city contracted out sign making, now take a day, he said. But the sign shop displaced indoor parking for equipment, which now must be left outside.

Assistant Public Works Superintendent Ana Tenorio told tour members the city yard is not ADA compliant, and is so cramped it is a challenge to separate offices from noisy equipment like power saws and vacuums.

Crew Supervisor Brad Cocking showed residents the yard’s primary trash  receptacle, which is  below grade and requires trash trucks to back down a steep ramp to dump trash, and to remove the large receptacle.

Public Works Superintendent John Cordova said the yard’s eclectic grid is increasingly stressed by the growing power needed for recharging stations and equipment such as electric fork lifts.

Moving trucks in and out of the congested yard is like “musical chairs,” he said, and a constant safety concern. 

The city’s 2024-25 Capital Improvement Budget lists a new city yard at $21 million. ER

Crew Supervisor Brad Cocking describes difficulties dumping and removing trash from the City Yard.

Civic Center Advisory Group
members named

Members of the 12-member Advisory Group, include former city employees, a former councilmember, city commissioners, and community volunteers. The City Council authorized City Manager Suja Lowenthal to select the group’s members

The members are:

• Tom Bakaly: Former Hermosa Beach city manager and current Beach Cities Health District CEO.
• Claudia Berman: Business consultant, artist, and Hermosa Museum docent.
• Ira Ellman: Retired business finance director and longtime community activist.
• Mike Flaherty: Retired Hermosa Beach Public Works Supervisor, and Planning Commission member.
• Scott Hayes: General contractor and Public Works Commissioner.
• Eric Horne: National policy director at MegaFire, a nonprofit devoted to stopping large fires.
• Rick Koenig: General contractor and former Hermosa Museum president.
• Adrienne Lindgren: Business manager, specializing in clean air technologies.
• Eric Oakes: Engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• Lauren Pizer-Mains: Parks and Rec Commissioner,  member of State Senator Ben Allen’s staff, and consultant to the State Joint Committee on the Arts.
• Jim Rosenberger: Retired business owner, and former City Councilmember.
• Jennifer Rosenfeld: Attorney and former Hermosa Education Foundation member.