Rescue Our Waterfront has submitted a ballot initiative for review by the Redondo Beach City Attorney that would “strengthen and clarify” Measure G, approved by voters in 2010. The 2010 measure set development limits along the Redondo Beach Waterfront. ROW’s measure would set more conservative development limits in the harbor area, while also calling for the expansion of the city’s Seaside Lagoon.
The organization hopes to qualify the initiative for March 2017 municipal election ballot.
“I don’t think we’ll have any problems gathering the signatures we need,” said Rescue Our Waterfront co-founder Candace Nafissi. The initiative is called the King Harbor Coastal Access, Revitalization and Enhancement Act (CARE). Its aim is to disrupt the “real estate industry-centric project planning and zoning interpretations” of the proposed Waterfront Redondo Beach project, headed by CenterCal Properties.
CenterCal CEO Fred Bruning described the measure proposed by ROW as a stalling tactic.
“We were asked to bring in a project in compliance with Measure G that fulfilled the spirit of Measure G,” Bruning said in a May interview. “It’s hard to go back now because one group wants to change G. If we did that, that probably adds 10 to 15 years to the project.” He added that not only would the State Coastal Commission have to look at the changes, but that a whole new Environmental Impact Report would be required, making obsolete the soon-to-be-released EIR, which is more than 6,000 pages long.
The CARE Act proposes a number of changes to the municipal code, not the least of which is the expansion or preservation of the Seaside Lagoon. The proposed change would prohibits CenterCal’s plan to open Seaside Lagoon to King Harbor’s main channel, as well as any change that would “decrease the park’s open space.” It also requires, should Seaside Lagoon be replaced, that it be replaced with a pool “or similar recreational swimming and wading water facility.”
The CARE Act would creates stricter guidelines on how views of the harbor could be changed and calls for a new boat ramp and a new traffic study. It asks that parking structures be included in the Local Coastal Plan’s development cap. That cap, as established by Measure G, restricts net new development to no more than 400,000 square feet.
Two other significant elements of CenterCal’s plan would be prohibited, as well: a four-story, five-level parking structure planned for the corner of Harbor Drive and Portofino Way; and a road that would connect Harbor Drive to Torrance Boulevard.
State regulatory agencies have fined the city nearly $250,000 over the past few years because of water quality issues at Seaside Lagoon. The city has considered replacing the lagoon with a pool. But the cost was $12 million. “As that was many years ago, it’s dated and we’d have to reevaluate costs,” Assistant City Manager Mike Witzansky said at the April 19 meeting of the Redondo Beach City Council.
In the May interview, CenterCal’s Brunning said, “We’ve built a project that is appropriately sized for Redondo Beach and the waterfront. In terms of density, it is is one of the least dense” compared to 235 other waterfront projects surveyed by the Project for Public Spaces.
Nafissi said her group talked to residents at the Riviera Village Summer Festival two weekends ago. “We collected almost 500 signatures from people who were asking how they can help.”
ROW’s booth featured the group’s literature, including a draft versions of the King Harbor CARE Act and illustrations of what they believe the project will look like. An illustration of Seaside Lagoon featured sea lions playing on the beach, suggesting the marine mammals would take over the shore.
“Kids will grow up in Seaside Lagoon,” Nafissi said. “It’s hard to take your kids anywhere on the beach, and it’s such a nice play area.”
Following the city attorney’s review of the initiative, ROW will need to gather at least 6,000 valid signatures to place the measure on the March 2017 ballot.
