Although Redondo Beach’s City Council has rescinded its controversial Heart of the City plan and decided to start again from scratch, the Hermosa Beach City Council now hopes to retain its right to sue its neighbor to the south in court if the next version of the harbor redevelopment project is as objectionable as the first.

The Hermosa Beach City Council is now in the process of asking a court judge to grant it a stay on a lawsuit it filed last April against the city of Redondo Beach claiming that the original Heart of the City plan would cause undue impacts on residents of Hermosa Beach. Such a stay would allow the council to suspend its lawsuit for now and allow it to initiate it again if the Redondo Beach City Council comes back with the same exact plan.

The city of Hermosa Beach hopes the court will grant it a stay since it would not be able to sue Redondo Beach over the same issues if it is forced to officially drop its original lawsuit.

The Hermosa Beach City Council asked the city of Redondo Beach for a stay but city officials in Redondo Beach refused to do so.

“Not granting us a stay on our lawsuit and not withdrawing the local coastal development permit application with the California Coastal Commission for the original plan looks very suspicious to me,” said Hermosa Beach City Councilman Michael Keegan. “It tells me that Redondo Beach is going to proceed with the same plan or something very close to it.”

Redondo Beach Mayor Greg Hill said that it was true that his city has yet to pull its application with the California Coastal Commission. However, he said, the public agency has stated it will not review the application for now. Hill also added the city of Redondo Beach has tried to negotiate with the city of Hermosa Beach by asking it to select a suitable number of housing units appropriate for the development, which was the issue the original suit was filed to protest.

“The Coastal Commission has informed us it won’t do anything with our application until all of this is resolved,” explained Hill.

“The (Hermosa Beach) council’s issues are based on a fear of density and overcrowding. We have asked them several times to give us a number to cap out the units based on their studies but they have refused to give us one. I think they are spending money on a questionable value and if they gave us a number, we would put a cap condition into the plan, which was always our contention in the beginning.”

According to Keegan, if the court does not grant the Hermosa Beach City Council a stay, it will then go to court with its pending lawsuit. The city of Hermosa Beach may have trouble in trial court because it would be arguing on a plan which has since been revoked. The suit could cost both cities upward of $100,000 in legal fees.

“With a stay, neither side would spend any money because Hermosa Beach wouldn’t move forward with the suit,” added Keegan. “The cap is completely irrelevant to us asking for the stay. But without a stay, if we don’t pursue it, then we lose standing and we can’t file the same lawsuit.”

In April, thousands of Redondo Beach voters signed a petition to put the controversial plan on a ballot in the form of a referendum that targeted two ordinances. Voters who signed the petition expressed concern about the high density, traffic and noise impacts that the plan would generate in the city.

In June, the Redondo Beach City Council rescinded the plan and is now prohibited from proceeding with the project for one year.

The original Heart of the City plan called for significant changes to Redondo Beach’s waterfront and the AES power plant located along Hermosa Beach’s southern border. The plan would have allowed for up to 675,000 square feet of commercial development and almost 3,000 residential units by allowing as little as 16 units per acre or up to 55 units per acre.

Hermosa Beach city officials argued in their suit that the mitigation measures outlined in the plan’s environmental impact report were insufficient in alleviating potential increases in traffic and congestion along the city’s southern border.

“It’s not our job as the Hermosa Beach City Council to set a cap for another city,” said Keegan. “Redondo Beach should ask its residents what it wants and from my experience, it’s not just numbers, it’s the scope of the plan. If they were sincere about change then they would give us a stay and if I were a petition signer I’d be furious.”

Hill claimed the concerns of Hermosa Beach are the same concerns in Redondo Beach. He added that the city of Hermosa Beach should concentrate on its own density and traffic issues from development rather than worry about planning policies in other cities.

“We have asked Hermosa Beach for direction, but I don’t know why it hasn’t responded, maybe because it wants to keep its options open in case it objects to something else it doesn’t like,” said Hill. “We don’t impose our planning practices on Hermosa Beach; however, one councilman has a penchant for doing business in Redondo Beach and imposing his city’s planning on ours.”