The Redondo Beach City Council refrained from instituting a 45-day moratorium on mixed-use developments, choosing instead to consider changes and updates to the city’s mixed-use zoning regulations.
The council also made very clear that it is keeping the moratorium in its hip pocket, should it become necessary to control developments that they, and their citizens, may consider wildly out of control.
A moratorium on mixed-use development has been floated in city circles for months now, as public discussions of mixed-use developments such as those of Legado Redondo, 1700 S. Pacific Coast Highway, at the former Bristol Farms site, and SeaBreeze Plaza, 1914-1926 S. Pacific Coast Highway, reached a fevered pitch.
In both cases, members of the public felt that the residential/commercial developments were too densely packed for their respective sites, and that the influx of residents who chose to live in those projects would cause already painful traffic situations to become completely nightmarish.
By the letter of the law, Legado and SeaBreeze are within their rights to have the density they’ve planned. MU-3 zones, which those projects sit within, allow for a maximum of 35 residential housing units per acre. SeaBreeze was approved for 52 condominiums and 10,552 square feet of commercial space, on a 1.49 acre site. Legado had applied to build 149 units and 37,000 square feet of commercial space on a 4.3 acre site, though the developer opted to redesign in the face of public scrutiny and a looming denial from the city’s planning commission.
State law allows for a city or county to adopt a moratorium as an urgency measure through a 4/5 vote of a legislative body, according to a staff report provided by City Attorney Michael Webb; such a measure would be effective immediately following the vote. Law requires that the measure must be supported by findings that the moratorium would be necessary to protect the public from a “current and immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare.”
A moratorium can also be extended twice, totaling up to two years, though the standards for objective, quantifiable findings are heightened with the extensions. Though District 2 Councilman Bill Brand cited ongoing drought concerns, and the stress that new residences would place on water reserves, as grounds for the moratorium, Webb stressed that the recent SeaBreeze approval weakens their argument.
That was the concern for District 5 Councilwoman Laura Emdee.
“While I agree that density is an issue, there’s a stronger argument to follow proper procedures to address that density,” she said, indicating a change to current ordinances. “That can be done with process, and I think that would hold up much stronger.”
“We’ve had weeks of this, and no one has come up with [conditions] stronger than what we have right now,” Emdee continued.
“You haven’t come up with anything stronger,” Brand replied. “Residents are not happy with density we’re allowing in Redondo, especially as pertains to mixed use.”
He then offered two further conditions: That infrastructure costs related to new residences are twice as great as the revenue gained by them; and that underperforming commercial developments are an immediate threat to the community.
“Right, but that isn’t a current or immediate threat,” Emdee said. “We’ve known about that.”
Redondo Beach Mayor Steve Aspel agreed with Emdee.
“Bill, this is old information — it doesn’t qualify as an emergency because we’ve seen this for years and years; I don’t disagree with a moratorium, I just don’t think it qualifies as an ‘emergency ordinance,’” he said.
Aspel then spelled out a point that had been previously alluded to: developers, such as Legado, may opt to put a hold on their projects until they find such a way to bypass a moratorium.
“We don’t want to outsmart ourselves here; the people that build big developments got that money because they’re smart. They’ll find a way around this if we don’t do it right,” Aspel said.
With that, Brand indicated that he would not motion for a moratorium, opting instead to “keep it in the toolbox” while the council worked toward other options for reducing density in mixed-use zoning, as discussed in a recent strategic planning meeting.
A vote to adopt updates to the city’s strategic plan, including work towards changing mixed-use zoning regulations, will come at the November 17 Redondo Beach City Council meeting.
