Metro completes Final Environmental Impact Report for South Bay light rail extension
by Garth Meyer
Metro released its final Environmental Impact Report Sept. 11 for the proposed light rail expansion further into the South Bay.
Interested parties now pore over the 62-page document, including a grass-roots group in North Redondo Beach who oppose one possible route; along a railroad right-of-way between neighborhoods. The other route studied would be built on elevated tracks down Hawthorne Boulevard.
Either path stems from the Redondo Beach (Marine) station, continuing on to a planned Torrance Transit Center.
A 19-minute trip to LAX from Torrance would be one result, Metro states.
The Environmental Impact Report, in its summary for the right-of-way option, lists noise and vibration during construction as a “Significant and Unavoidable Impact.”
For “No Impact/Less Than Significant Impact” it lists transportation during construction, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology and water quality, to cultural resources during construction and operation.
The category of “Less Than Significant Impact With Mitigation” cites aesthetics, noise and vibration, biological resources and tribal cultural resources during construction, to name a few.
Similarly, the Hawthorne Boulevard route also has noise and vibration during construction listed as a “Significant and Unavoidable Impact,” with other items marked as “Less Than Significant Impact” or “Less Than Significant Impact With Mitigation.”
If the Metro board of directors certifies the final Environmental Impact Report – it will go before them this fall – construction on a chosen route could start sometime in 2027, with the line opening in 2036.
Initial funding would come from voter-approved Measures R and M. As much or more than a billion dollars would still need to be secured for either route.
“This project represents a major step forward for the South Bay and for the entire Metro system,” said Fernando Dutra, Metro board chair and Whittier city councilman. “By extending rail service to Torrance, we are giving more Angelenos access to good jobs, faster commutes and cleaner air. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with our community partners to ensure that this project best serves the needs of the community now and for generations to come.”
A third option is to not extend the line at all, in favor of high-frequency bus routes.
The City of Redondo Beach has hired an attorney to look at whether Metro met their obligation in the Report, in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
“My conclusion is, for an agency purportedly focused on equity, nothing could be more inequitable than the right-of-way option (ROW),” said Zein Obagi, Jr., Redondo Beach city councilman. “Taking open space, old trees and private property in Lawndale from residences, and in Redondo Beach, residents, hundreds of seniors, subjected to more than a half decade of construction, to run light rail next to fuel-carrying freight trains above fuel-carrying pipelines. For a route that’s not the most ridership.”
Last May, the Metro board voted unanimously to wait on selecting a route, citing a need for more study and further engagement by Metro with residents.
As for the ROW option, at the crossings for 170th and 182nd Street, tracks would likely go under the road – to cut down on noise, improve safety and eliminate traffic delays for motorists and pedestrians.
Metro also has proposed changes to the existing freight line on the right-of-way for safety and reduced noise.
Overall, Metro projects the K-Line extension would add 11,500 daily trips, bringing in 1.49 million new riders each year, cutting vehicle miles on local roads by 19.5 million, also per year.
“It will link local communities to our expanding transit system and provide a faster, more reliable alternative to sitting in traffic,” said Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins.
If the board certifies the final E.I.R. and chooses a route, the project will go ahead with design and engineering.
Councilman Obagi, Jr., spoke at a meeting last Sunday, Sept. 14, put on by South Bay Environmental Alliance, at William Green Park in Lawndale.
“To educate residents about what we know about the project… and those neighbors not realizing the train’s coming,” he said. “… For X amount of renters, they can live somewhere else that’s not a construction zone. That’s displacement. I encourage everyone to speak in favor of Hawthorne Boulevard, or the high-frequency bus, which has the least environmental impact.”
“Hopefully the Metro staff is now approaching this with an open mind,” he said.
The final E.I.R. does not offer a choice of route, but just lays out the impacts of each.
For the next step, the Metro board will consider this at a regular meeting, likely in October.
“Another bus coming from Redondo Beach, I believe,” Obagi, Jr., said, referring to last May’s meeting when the city chartered a bus, residents filling it to go speak at Metro headquarters in Los Angeles. “At least another bus or two from Lawndale.”
At last Sunday’s meeting at the Lawndale park were representatives from County Supervisor (and Metro boardmember) Holly Mitchell’s office and Congresswoman Maxine Watters.’
“I’m not confident they are going to start listening to residents, after two years of residents saying the same things,” Obagi, Jr., said. “I hope they’re not just listening, but heeding what the residents say.”
Metro took in more than 2,000 public comments in preparing for the final Environmental Impact Report.
It is available online at metro.net/clineext, or in print at the Redondo Beach North Library (2000 Artesia Boulevard).
Metro’s specific website on the project is: www.metro.net/projects/green-line-extension. ER