While Redondo Beach city officials continue to initiate discussion on the Heart of the City plan, a project it rescinded earlier this year, Hermosa Beach City Councilman Michael Keegan recently conceived his own plan for the proposed site which has received mixed reviews in both cities.

During the Sept. 24 council meeting, Keegan urged his constituents to consider the concept of a regional recreational facility on the 56-acre AES power plant site and adjacent land owned by Southern California Edison. The project would be a part of a joint venture with the two cities along with Manhattan Beach and the Beach Cities Health District.

“I think it’s a great idea and I would love to see this kind of project,” said Councilman Sam Edgerton. “If the BCHD wants to spend some money with a great return there is no better investment in town. The BCHD could buy outright the property as an appreciable asset and buying land in the South Bay is an investment because the value rises by 20 percent each year.”

Redondo Beach Mayor Greg Hill deemed the proposal as wishful thinking but said he would support any plan supported by Redondo Beach citizens.

“I’m very positive about all of these ideas and maybe we will move in a direction that caps the amount of development and increases the amount of open space. This has been an ongoing plan that has lasted for three years with 59 public meetings and I hope as a collective group, South Bay residents will get involved in the process.”

In April, the Hermosa Beach City Council filed suit against the city of Redondo Beach in connection with the Heart of the City plan.

Hermosa Beach 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.

In that same month, 6,400 Redondo Beach voters signed a petition to put the controversial plan on a ballot in the form of a referendum that targeted two ordinances. Residents who signed the petition expressed concern about the high density, traffic and noise impacts the plan would generate in the city.

In June, the Redondo Beach City Council rescinded the referendum and is prohibited from proceeding with the plan for one year.

Keegan feels his idea of a regional recreational facility could come to fruition with the financial support of the BCHD. The public agency could purchase the land from the AES Corporation and develop it with the help of all three beach cities. This

project could include an Olympic-size swimming pool and diving complex, an ice skating rink, a soccer stadium, a senior center and playgrounds.

“Mike is obviously tapping into something people would like to see, which is more open space,” said Hill. “But in order to take the power plant and turn it into a regional park, it would cost $450 million and that is not just the construction but also to remove the parcel off the tax roll. I would certainly like to see it happen if it is the wish of Redondo Beach residents who would want to double or triple their tax bills.”

The original Heart of the City plan called for significant changes to Redondo Beach’s waterfront and the AES site located along Hermosa Beach’s southern border. The plan would have allowed for up to 675,000 square foot of commercial development. Developers would have had the option to build up to 3,000 housing units on the land where the power plant now stands by allowing as little as 16 units per acre or up to 55 units per acre.

Since then, the Redondo Beach City Council has agreed to welcome any suggestions put forth by Hermosa Beach officials.

“Mary Rooney (Hermosa Beach Community Resources director) and I are developing a way to approach each group with ideas and a strategy to get everyone involved,” said Keegan. “Redondo Beach asked us to tell it what we wanted and we are just responding to its request. If it is to build condos with between 25,000 to 30,000 car trips a day or to leave it as, I’ll take the latter.”

Although Hermosa Beach Councilwoman Kathy Dunbabin warmed to the idea, she felt it improper for the city to impose its own precepts of development on a neighboring city.

“I voted against further exploring the concept because I personally do not feel that one city should be telling another city what to do unless it adversely affects that city,” she said. “It’s not up to us. I love green space just as much as the next person but we have to be willing to pay the price jointly of any maintenance on such a project and I don’t know if Hermosa Beach is willing to do that right now.”