by Garth Meyer
The City of Redondo Beach is prepared to file suit against Metro if it chooses to run its light rail extension down a right-of-way between houses in North Redondo and Lawndale.
The Redondo Beach city council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to hire John McLendon of Liebold McClendon & Mann (Laguna Hills), a specialist in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) cases, who will argue that Metro’s draft environmental impact report for the proposed route is flawed.
“We’re putting our money where our mouth is and trying to back our residents,” said Mayor Jim Light, referring to a grassroots effort against the right-of-way (ROW) option, in favor of Metro’s other choice of a raised track down the median of Hawthorne Boulevard.
“They did not evaluate the (impacts) to the residents adequately,” Light said, noting concerns with running light rail trains over gas pipelines – as opposed to now in which freight trains in the ROW run beside them – geotechnical issues/sinkholes, and the number of trains per day passing neighbors’ backyards.
McClendon bills at $425 per hour; his discounted rate for public agency work.
Councilmember Scott Behrendt was absent for Tuesday night’s meeting. ER
