Hermosa Beach News

Wind downs power lines, sparks home fire

By Jennifer Evans

Talk about being in the right place at the right time. The Hermosa Beach Fire Department was at one traffic accident when the collapse of power lines and a house fire erupted near the scene.

At approximately noon on March 27, the Fire Department responded to a three-car traffic collision on Pacific Coast Highway and about Eighth Street. At approximately 12:30 to 12:45 p.m. as firefighters were clearing the scene of the accident, whose victims suffered only minor injuries, firefighters noticed power lines had arced causing a blue light with white smoke.

Hermosa Beach Fire Department Capt. Aaron Bush immediately alerted the Fire Department and called Edison. “We isolated the area, made sure nobody walked through the area and the residents in the area were safe as Edison de-energized the wires and clipped the wires from the poles. It was quite a bit of work for Edison,” he said, adding that the fallen wires caused no injuries. Wires were clipped in the 800 through 900 blocks of PCH causing a power outage in that area for about an hour. Traffic signals were out along Hermosa Avenue from about 1 to 2 p.m.

According to Hermosa Beach Firefighter Carlos Lopez and Bush, a transformer blew due to a back surge of electricity. A representative from Edison was unavailable to comment at press time.

However, the day doesn't end there. As Bush was walking down the street in the area of Eighth Place, he smelled the “faint smell of smoke” coming from a home located on that street. “At first I didn't see any smoke or hear a smoke detector, but I did smell a mild smell of smoke and decided to check it out,” Bush said.

Bush's keen sense of smell paid off.

“As I went around to the back of the house, I heard a smoke detector and we made entry,” said Bush, who added that the homeowners were not inside.

After entering the house, firefighters went down to the basement and found a small fire located in a closet that housed the water heater.

Thankfully, the fire was extinguished before it spread. “Nobody was home so there were no injuries and the fire concentrated to the one room so there was only minor damage,” Bush said.

Bush thinks the power surge resulted in a pierced gas line causing the actual fire. The owners of the home arrived as the firefighters were clearing the scene. “They were very thankful that we had caught it before it spread,” Bush said.

Bush believed the weather was a contributor to the day's events. “The wind makes for an interesting day,” he said.

Hermosa Beach – Crime Watch

VANDALISM. Someone allegedly keyed two vehicles that were parked in the 400 block of Pier Avenue. The incident occurred between 2 and 8:30 p.m. March 20. The owners of the vehicles both work at a Pier Avenue business, and believe the culprit may also work at the same business.

GRAND THEFT. An individual took a Trio cell phone/ PDA from someone he was sharing a cab with that he did not know. The suspect grabbed the cell phone out of the victim's hands and exited the vehicle. The incident occurred at 8 p.m. March 19 in the 1300 block of Hermosa Avenue.

BURGLARY. After locking the door to her house, a resident returned the next morning to find the door damaged from being forced open. The incident allegedly occurred in the 400 block of The Strand, between 9 p.m. March 20 and 7 a.m. March 21. Nothing was taken.

BURGLARY. After leaving a west-facing glass door unlocked, a resident returned to find someone had entered the property and taken several items. The incident allegedly occurred in the 600 block of Eighth Street between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. March 22. Several items were taken, including $1,000 worth of jewelry, $1,000 worth of silver and a $2,200 Dell laptop.

GRAND THEFT. Someone fled after leaving a supermarket without paying for a full cart of groceries. The incident occurred in the 700 block of Pier Avenue at 7:35 p.m. March 24. Supermarket employees observed an individual leaving the store with a cart full of groceries. After he noticed he was being followed, the suspect fled east on 16th Street, toward Pacific Coast Highway. Among the items recovered were sirloin steak, Ensure supplement drinks, diapers, toilet paper and rib-eye beef.

Hermosa Beach News

HB School Board wrap

By Jennifer Evans

Budget guidelines - The Hermosa Beach School Board approved its budget guidelines, roles and responsibilities for the 2007-08 school year at its March 14 meeting.  Under the guidelines, the budget will include a general fund reserve for economic uncertainty. The amount will be no less than the amount required by state law, according to the staff report.  When the board approves its new goal and project programs, it will identify funding demands and specify the allocation of resources. Also included in the approval are the responsibilities and roles of the board, superintendent, business manager, superintendent of personnel, program managers and principal.

Budget calendar - The board also approved the budget calendar for the 2007-08 school year. The calendar maps out the dates of each step toward approving the adopted budget. On May 3, the staff will meet regarding the preliminary budget; on June 25, the budget will be on file for public inspection; on June 27, a public hearing on the proposed budget will be held and upon approval, the board will adopt the budget by July 1 and forward it to the county. On Aug. 15, the County Superintendent reviews and approves the budget.

Poetry in Action - For the eighth year in a row, the board approved Shelly Berger's “Poetry in Action” enrichment class. The program is for the district's fourth-grade students. According to the School Board agenda, the program consists of six class sessions where students learn about various poets, write and edit their own poetry, and recite their poems. Berger will receive $90 per class and the amount is not to exceed $5,000, according to the staff report.

Financial report - The board approved a 2006-07 second interim report that certifies that the district will be able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of this fiscal year.  In order to compile the report, district staff had to include financial information about such things as reserve funds for economic uncertainties, routine restricted maintenance costs, deferred maintenance costs, cash flow, mandated cost reimbursements, and lottery and categorical program funding.

Calendar - On March 27, there is a minimum day for students at both Hermosa Valley and Hermosa View schools due to staff development and training.  On March 29, there is a talent show from 6 to 9 p.m. at Hermosa Valley School in the multipurpose room.  From March 30 through April 9, Hermosa Beach schools will be closed for spring break. 

Hermosa Beach News

AVP tourney moves to May

By Chris Yang

The Association of Volleyball Professionals recently announced that the popular beach volleyball tournament will come to Hermosa Beach a little bit earlier this year, leaving local officials with less time than initially expected to prepare for the popular event.

In a statement issued on March 5, AVP's chief executive officer Leonard Armato indicated he was “pleased” following the release of the association's 2007 schedule. The announcement pushes up the date of the tour's Hermosa Beach event to the third weekend of May, a full two months earlier then was previously indicated in documents submitted to the California Coastal Commission.

The documents were part of a request to the commission seeking permission to increase the amount of paid seating at its Hermosa Beach event from 24 percent to 100 percent. Though the commission's staff recommended the powerful land use agency should keep the event's paid seating at 24 percent, the commission declined to do so at its Feb. 14 meeting. By a 6-5 vote, the commission decided to allow the association to charge admission to 90 percent of the attendees this year.

Shortly after the decision, AVP officials announced on March 1 that the tournament would take place in Long Beach from July 19 through 22, the date originally scheduled for the Hermosa Open. As of Monday, the association's Hermosa Beach event will officially take place on May 17 through 20. The association's Web site, which did not list the Hermosa Open as a stop last week, was recently updated to include the new May date.

Faced with new schedule, local officials welcomed the move, offering few concerns about the new date.

“The AVP has chosen to move up the date to May,” said Councilman Peter Tucker. “I feel that this will help the city of Hermosa, for with this early date the merchants will get an early boost for summer sales and it will ease the crowds later in the summer.”

The executive director of the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce also praised AVP's recent announcement.

“The downtown businesses, restaurants and hotels are very pleased that the event has been scheduled earlier, because it will bring needed customers to the town before the summer tourism season begins,” said Carla Merriman.

At least one official, though, continued to raise questions about how the commission's recent decision would be implemented by tournament officials. City Attorney Mike Jenkins stressed that admission would only be charged at specific locations within the tournament's footprint.

“So, the only issue is a logistical one, from our viewpoint, which is - where are they going to charge admission?” said Jenkins. “I believe that (what) we have concluded is that they are only going to charge for the main court and the two feature courts.”

But they would not be charging to any of the other portions of the venue, said Jenkins, leaving at least some of the three to six acres of beachfront used by the tournament open to the public.

“For example, on Thursday there'll be a lot of games played in that general vicinity that don't have bleachers and those will be free.”

Jenkins denied that the city's position differs from the Coastal Commission and reiterated that the matter is only one of logistics.

“It's only a logistical decision of what venues they're going to charge,” said Jenkins. “The issue is where?”

Hermosa Beach News

AVP seeking paid admission from commission

By Chris Yang

The Association of Volleyball Professionals is requesting approval from the Coastal Commission to increase the number of people it may charge admission to at its Hermosa Beach event from 24 percent to 100 percent on three out of the four days it holds its tournament in the beach city. Tournament officials are also seeking a five-year conditional permit instead of a one-time event permit, according to a commission staff report. Tickets would range from $10 for students to $40 for reserved seats. In addition, the report stated that the amount of correspondence the commission received expressing support of the association's proposal outnumbered the amount opposing it by roughly 50-to-1.

One of the fundamental responsibilities of the California Coastal Commission is to safeguard access to the state's coastline. At times, this mandate has been the cause of heated disputes between public access advocates and local homeowners claiming infringements of private property rights. In Hermosa Beach, the issue of public access has arisen in conjunction with a longstanding request by the association to increase the number of people it may charge admission to at its South Bay tournaments.

Since 1993, the event received approval from the Coastal Commission to charge admission for 24 percent of its attendees at both events in Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. But financial difficulties have forced the organization to pursue charging every attendee, a move that has been criticized by some environmentalists and beach volleyball aficionados as being in direct conflict with the agency's mandate.

The outcome of next Wednesday's meeting is expected to have consequences outside of Hermosa Beach, too. Just last month, the Manhattan Beach City Council agreed to consider amending its Local Coastal Program by having that city's Planning Commission hold a public hearing on the matter. But following a Jan. 27 meeting by the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission, one commissioner told the Daily Breeze that he “wasn't clear why we needed to do this now.” Representatives with AVP vowed to continue pushing for all-paid seating by taking the matter to the City Council. Manhattan Beach officials, including one former Coastal Commissioner, will not consider the matter again until after the Coastal Commission issues a decision on the tournament's Hermosa Beach event.

Officials with Hermosa Beach do not, upon first glance, appear to be as opposed to granting the association's request as do its neighbors to the north. At the Chamber of Commerce's annual installation luncheon last year, AVP executive Dave Williams was thanked by the chamber's executive director for being one of the city's largest boosters. Regardless of the differences in attitudes, next week's hearing is sure to receive close scrutiny by officials with both municipalities.

The actual tournament itself is scheduled to take place between July 19 and July 22, and is expected to draw approximately 7,000 people per day. The event takes up between 3 and 6.3 acres of land along the beach located directly to the north of the Hermosa Beach pier.

Interested parties may view next week's hearing online by visiting the Web site www.cal-span.org/  and clicking on the link titled “Coastal Commission.”

Hermosa Beach News

Not enough parking

Hermosa's City Council is aiding downtown commercial owners and outside developers in maxing-out restaurant/bar structure additions and new condo-office/restaurant structures without requiring sufficient on-site parking, ensuring more negative impacts and costs for the residents.

Absent a hotel and surf shop businesses downtown, the additional Hermosa public safety costs, related to the downtown's late-night bar and cab zone activity, significantly exceed any day-to-day city revenue generated there. Hermosa's council understands this but refuses to show its residents an audit. A cost/benefit analysis of ongoing negative costs of Hermosa's downtown is always avoided, especially by council members who accept campaign contributions and probable endless stroking of their egos from vested downtown interests while ignoring the city as a whole.

Except for Peter Tucker, the council is ignorantly causing significant new downtown density by permitting abuse of the downtown in-lieu parking space ordinance for new downtown commercial construction whether for expansion of existing defined structures or new condo office/ restaurant projects.

Developers are permitted to pay a one-time fee of $28,900 for each required parking space not provided on a project site, to receive city approval. It's become a total scam and further it is based on insanely low parking-use counts to compute the number of required parking spaces a project even needs. The original intent of in-lieu was to aid existing businesses in historic structures having a parking shortfall, not to aid maxing-out new commercial structures and additions.

Howard Longacre, Hermosa Beach

Say no to mansionization

The Manhattan Beach Planning Commission will soon have an opportunity to define if this beautiful city is going to fall prey to the desires of a few developers who desire to “mansionizate” The Strand. Before the commission is a request to allow 2.66 parcels (a huge piece of land) at 3608 The Strand to be turned into one lot.

My neighbors are all against the opportunity for the investor/developer to be allowed to amass one structure that would exceed more than 2-1/2 lots along the Strand.

The investor/developer supposedly has no plans, yet all tenants on the properties are on a month-to-month lease. The resident neighbors are not against development but we are strongly opposed to allowing this property to be turned into one single lot and seeing a massive building arise when this beautiful property could be developed with consideration to space and to the surrounding adjacent properties.

Please, let us see the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission just say no to the “mansionization” of our beautiful town and beach community.

David Hennessy, Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach News

City seeks local control over AVP

By Jennifer Evans

In an effort to gain “local control,” the Manhattan Beach City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the Local Coastal Program that would allow for the potential of up to 90 percent paid admission in stadium seating for the Manhattan Beach Open volleyball tournament.

Although the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission unanimously denied the request for the amendment last week, the City Council didn't hesitate to approve the amendment at the Feb. 20 City Council meeting stating that the approval had nothing to do with protecting or not protecting the beaches and that it simply had to do with gaining local control. “I think this request has been blown out of proportion. It's not about protecting the beach, there is no damage to the beach if you charge $20 for a seat,” Councilwoman Joyce Fahey said, adding that this is about developing a partnership with the AVP. “It's how a business should work, they provide a service and get compensated for that.”

For the last eight years the Association of Volleyball Professionals has been permitted to charge for 24 percent of the seating. However, according to the association, it is losing money by not charging for a larger percentage of the spectators.

“We don't make a profit at this event by any means. We are actually just looking to lose less money,” Dave Williams, director of market development for the AVP, said. “We are not looking for the city to subsidize this event.”

Several professional volleyball players and Manhattan Beach residents spoke in favor of charging a higher percentage of spectators, responding to the looming threat that if the AVP isn't allowed to charge, for financial reasons it will no longer be able to play its tournament in Manhattan Beach.

“It's vital that this passes and we don't lose this event in Manhattan Beach,” AVP player and Olympic bronze medalist Elaine Youngs said. “I just hope we can come to some sort of agreement.”

Several volleyball players including nine-year AVP veteran Jennifer Paveley echoed Youngs' sentiment. “This is where our sport belongs. As volleyball players, the Manhattan Beach Open and the Olympics are what we work for, they are the highlights of our career. I can't imagine playing on the tour and not playing in Manhattan Beach.”

Councilman Mitch Ward asked how much money an average AVP player earned, to which Paveley responded that last year in her most lucrative year she made $20,000. “We don't do this for the money and we don't make a lot of money. Most of us have other jobs,” she said, adding that besides being a volleyball player she is also a firefighter.

However, some residents feel that by allowing the AVP to charge more spectators, it violates the rights of citizens to use public land. “Cash registers and beaches don't go well together,” Manhattan Beach resident Bill Victor said. “People who bring businesses to the city should have to pay rent.”

Victor, who was among the minority of speakers opposing the amendment stated that the whole idea of the Coastal Commission is to protect the beach and to dwindle that protection down is not right. “This is a political decision, there is no reason for the City Council to have more control over a state beach,” Victor said. “I think it is very greedy to do what they (AVP) are planning to do on a state beach. The shame is that the volleyball players are being used; it's embarrassing to find out how much the players make in comparison to what the CEO's salary is.”

According to Yahoo Finance, Leonard Armato, CEO of the AVP, makes an annual salary of $350,000; Andrew Reif, CFO, makes an annual salary of $240,000; Thomas Torii, CAO, earns $155,000; and Bruce Binko, chief marketing officer, earns an annual salary of $250,000.

Approval of the amendment is the first step toward opening up discussions with the Association of Volleyball Professionals regarding what amount would be fair to charge spectators. However, because the amendment has to be approved by the Coastal Commission, which is a six-month process, charging more than 24 percent will not take place until 2008.

“I would never support 90 percent paid seating,” Ward said. “What I would consider is to look for a model that will work for the athletes.”

Hermosa Beach News

City gives its manager a three-year extension

By Chris Yang

The Hermosa Beach City Council recently approved an amendment to the city manager's employment agreement that calls for a 5.5-percent pay hike to his annual salary. The amendment is part of a three-year agreement spanning Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2008, that provides for an annual adjustment of $10,000 to Burrell's salary, which stood at $170,000 in 2005. Should Burrell successfully complete his 14th year, he will be rewarded next year with an annual salary of $200,000.

The raise places Burrell among the most well-paid city managers from municipalities with comparable populations, according to statistics issued by the International City/County Management Association. In cities with populations between 10,000 and 25,000 residents, the average salary for city managers in 2006 was $104,339. Burrell's salary also leaves him with the distinction of being the city's highest paid employee. The next highest paid official within the city bureaucracy is the police chief, whose salary ranges from $115,440 to $133,644. In addition to his salary, Burrell is allowed the use of a city-owned vehicle.

To contrast, Manhattan Beach pays its city manager $183,281 per year. But in comparing the relative compensation packages between the two cities, one should also take note of distinct differences between the two municipalities. First, Manhattan Beach requires its employees to maintain a five-day workweek instead of four 10-hour shifts as Hermosa Beach's employees do. Second, Hermosa's neighbor to the north is more than twice its size in land (3.88 square miles vs. 1.3 square miles). Finally, Manhattan's population outdoes Hermosa's by roughly 15,000 people, according to 2000 census figures.

Burrell has weathered his share of controversy since taking the reins of the city in 1994. In 1995, Burrell's name was prominently mentioned in a Santa Cruz newspaper involving the misuse of funds from a $10.2 million bond issued to pay for projects in the city of Capitola. In 2002, Burrell was stopped by Hermosa Beach police officers for running a red light and driving erratically. The officers, who believed Burrell to be intoxicated, declined to arrest the city manager and instead drove him home. The matter eventually made it into local newspapers after one of the two officers involved with the incident complained publicly about the department's handling of the matter.

The council's decision to approve an amendment to Burrell's employment agreement passed as an item on the consent calendar and was treated as a routine matter that received no public discussion at its meeting Jan. 23. Officials told a local publication that the new policy of approving amendments spanning three years was undertaken to “make the process less time-consuming.” This is in stark contrast to previous councils, which approved raises for the city manager on an annual basis. In 1999, the City Council, minus two members, voted to increase Burrell's salary by $6,700 from $111,300 to $118,000.

Burrell is a native of the South Bay, attending high school in Torrance. He later graduated from Cal State Long Beach. Burrell served in various positions in Rolling Hills Estates and San Clemente. His arrival in Hermosa Beach in 1994 marked a return home from Northern California, where he spent 14 years as the city manager of Capitola.

Hermosa Beach News

H.B. Council wrap

By Chris Yang

HUD grants - The council unanimously approved the city's continued participation in a program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local officials estimated this year's allocation from the Community Development Block Grant program to be $96,937. The funds will be used to upgrade the Community Center so it will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to a staff report prepared by local officials, the city has participated in the program for the past 10 years. The city has received between $96,000 and $112,000 per year through the program to pay for various projects throughout the city, with retrofitting the Community Center being one of them.

City manager - The council approved an amendment to the city manager's employment agreement through its consent calendar. Under the agreement, Steve Burrell's salary will increase by $10,000 to $190,000. The salary hike is effective through Dec. 31 and will increase to $200,000 in 2008.

Matrix Consulting Group - The council approved the hiring of a consultant to conduct a “staffing and deployment study” for the Hermosa Beach Fire Department. The contract is expected to cost the city $27,000 and was awarded to a Palo Alto-based firm known as the Matrix Consulting Group.

Fire Chief Russell Tingley attended the meeting to answer any lingering questions about the study, which was unanimously approved by the council. The president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association, Paul Hawkins, was also present Tuesday night to thank the council for allowing it to provide input to the study.

PCH relinquishment

The council declined to pursue a process known as “relinquishment” for the section of Pacific Coast Highway located within city limits. It instead voted unanimously to pursue entering into an “Encroachment Agreement” with Caltrans to allow the city to continue placing a banner above a portion of Pacific Coast Highway.

Had it proceeded with the proposal, the city would have been responsible for all maintenance and upkeep for its portion of the busy thoroughfare. Local officials estimated that the state agency would have made a one-time payment to the city of between $4 million and $5 million to bring its section of PCH into a “state of good repair.”

Local businessman Roger Bacon was the lone resident to speak in favor of the proposal, which came about in part due to his support of the city's banner program. Currently, Caltrans does not allow commercial banners to be placed over state highways. Relinquishment presented the city a means by which the city could continue the banner program, which raises money for local organizations like the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation.

“I've supported the banner program all along,” said Bacon. “I'm more interested in preserving Hermosa Beach.”

Despite Bacon's support for the idea, the council decided to request permission from the state agency to continue the program. The city will proceed with requesting a permit from the agency. If that is unsuccessful, local officials will then attempt to initiate legislation through its state representatives that would grant the city permission to continue hanging banners above PCH.

Skechers traffic - At the request of Councilman Peter Tucker, the council discussed the issue of traffic in the vicinity of the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Longfellow Drive. The area is currently impacted by the construction of the Skechers building, which is located on the northeast edge of the intersection in Manhattan Beach.

Local resident Butch Kuflak addressed the council on the topic. Kuflak urged the council to make three changes to the intersection to alleviate the flow of thru-traffic on his street. In particular, Kuflak suggested rerouting traffic back to PCH by making westbound traffic turn either right or left once reaching the intersection. He also urged the council to eliminate the left-turn lane for cars traveling northbound on PCH. Lastly, he suggested routing cars back onto PCH by making it a right-turn only intersection for cars traveling eastbound on Longfellow.

“This was brought to you in 2002,” said Kuflak. “Since then, nothing has happened. You've dropped the ball.”

Councilman Michael Keegan reminded the resident that because the eastern edge of the intersection did not fall within city limits, any changes to the intersection required the assistance of the Manhattan Beach City Council. Local officials also expressed an intention to wait until the new building is completed before requesting any changes be made to the intersection. The council agreed to form a subcommittee composed of Councilmen Tucker and Keegan to follow the issue over the next few months.

Hermosa Beach News

Laker accused of trashing birthday cake

By Chris Yang

Did a member of the Los Angeles Lakers knock a $190 birthday cake out of someone's hands and violate section 487(b) of the Penal Code, thus committing grand theft? According to one Hermosa Beach resident, the answer to that question is “yes.”

That resident, Alexander Martinez, subsequently filed a report with the Hermosa Beach Police Department Saturday detailing the incident, which he claimed occurred several hours earlier.

According to the report, Martinez was celebrating his 30th birthday party at The Shore Restaurant and Lounge last Friday. At about 1:45 a.m., Martinez apparently called it a night and left the Shore, taking his birthday cake with him.

As he walked north along Hermosa Avenue, the report indicates he crossed paths with Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf. Turiaf was one of several players who decided to visit Blue 32 earlier that night on a post-game outing. After posing for a picture with Turiaf, Martinez alleges that another Laker identified as Kwame Brown grabbed his cake and threw it at him, hitting him in the “upper back area.” Before Martinez could confront Brown about the spilled dessert, the culprit hopped into a nearby limousine and was quickly driven away.

Martinez then complained to Lamar Odom about the incident. Odom was allegedly walking out of Pedone's Pizzeria with several acquaintances. It was unclear from the report whether Odom was attending the same event as the other players who had just patronized Blue 32. Regardless, someone with Odom did not appreciate Martinez's complaint and allegedly pushed him into the street. According to the report, Odom then urged his friend to back off, stating “Calm down, he didn't do anything.”

On Tuesday, Lakers' team spokesman John Black declined to comment on the matter, citing a pending investigation and open legal matter.

The following day, a report appearing in the Daily Breeze detailing the incident indicated that detectives with the Hermosa Beach Police Department presented the case to the city prosecutor's office. Upon further review, the city prosecutor declined to file either the grand theft or assault charge.

Hermosa Beach News

New ‘office-condos' planned

By Chris Yang

Plans were recently submitted to the city proposing a new four-level building in the heart of downtown Hermosa Beach. Local officials met last week as part of the city's Staff Environmental Review Committee to conduct an initial study of the project, a requirement under the California Environmental Quality Act.

The proposal calls for constructing 21 new “office-condos” in the 900 block of Hermosa Avenue. The proposed structure will take the place of a building currently occupied by Ocean View Cleaners, a dry-cleaning business. A garage that sits vacant on another lot will also be transformed to make room for the new building. According to Louie Tomaro, the founder of an architecture firm leading the design of the project, the garage once served as a mechanic's shop, but now sits vacant.

At the meeting, local officials saw little wrong with the proposal and raised concerns with only two particular issues - the structure's parking plan and its future use. “We will not allow assigned parking,” said Senior Planner Ken Robertson. Robertson also advised the applicant that the city frowned upon any retail space being used to serve food. “As long as it's not food,” he said. Aside from those two issues, the proposal to place a new building along Hermosa Avenue was met with little resistance.

“A project of this scale will have negligible impacts on traffic,” said Robertson. With respect to the building's impacts on neighboring views, Robertson added, “We don't see that as a significant impact.”

In addition to an architect representing the applicant and two city planners, a representative from the Police Department also attended the meeting. Lt. Lance Jaakola stated that the new building “may cause me to redirect some of my resources,” but several minutes later apparently decided that the project met with his approval and excused himself from the meeting.

As with much of the new development surfacing in Hermosa Beach, parking remains the major factor in determining a project's acceptability with local officials. According to Robertson, the building's parking area will include 19 spaces in an underground level, leaving the building with a “deficiency” of eight parking spaces. The new development will therefore participate in the city's in-lieu parking plan, which allows property owners to submit funds “in-lieu” of providing parking. The cost of a parking space was recently increased from $12,500 to $28,900 per space.

An architect with Tomaro's firm indicated during the hearing that the real estate developer is Seaside Development. “It's an ‘LLC',” said Geoff Captain. He also stated that the new building is expected to become available in late 2008, barring any unforeseen difficulties.

The city's Planning Commission is expected to consider the matter at its next meeting Feb. 20.

Hermosa Beach News

HB City Council wrap

By Chris Yang

Sister city cocktail party - A cocktail party is tentatively planned at Sangria to welcome officials from Hermosa Beach's sister city of Loreto, Mexico, who have made the trip north to celebrate the city's centennial. The informal gathering is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13.

Beach Cities Health District - Several officials with the Beach Cities Health District appeared Tuesday night to present a proclamation to the council in honor of the city's Centennial Celebration.  “On behalf of the BCHD, the board, and the staff, I am very proud to present this to the city of Hermosa Beach,” said trustee Joanne Edgerton. “...I can say that Hermosa has really transformed itself from a very kind of rough, sleepy, little town to a much more cosmopolitan city.” Edgerton, who is married to Mayor Sam Edgerton, was joined by trustees Walt Dougher and Muriel Savikas, CEO Susan Burden and communications director Pamela Corante.

Upper Pier Avenue Committee - The first meeting of the Upper Pier Avenue Committee is scheduled to take place in Room 12 of the Community Center Thursday, Jan. 18. The public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be largely organizational in nature.  The committee was formed by the council last October to help steer the development of upper Pier Avenue (see “Council to consider appointments for Pier project” Nov. 9, 2006). The meeting begins at 7 p.m.   

CodeRED - The council unanimously approved a yearlong contract with a Florida company known as the Emergency Communications Network to implement an emergency notification system known as CodeRED.  According to CodeRED's Web site, the service employs a “one-of-a-kind Internet mapping capability” to allow officials to geographically target phone calls. According to an official with the company, messages can be tailored to specific events or emergencies prior to notifying residents. One city used the system to notify residents living along the route of a 5K run that the street would be closed.

“We could get somebody's voice right? We could hire someone that does the voice,” said Councilman J.R. Reviczky. “We could do it in Bart Simpson or something.”  “Heck we could get Fred Huebscher, he's good at it,” said Edgerton. “Every campaign.”  The service agreement, which includes 25,000 minutes, will cost the city $10,000.

Police motorcycles -The council approved the purchase of two BMW motorcycles for the Police Department. According to the city's staff report, the department originally purchased two BMW motorcycles three years ago “on a three-year buyback contract.” After the contract expired last fall, the department opted to turn in its motorcycles in exchange for credit toward two new motorcycles.

In-lieu parking - Following the approval of an increase in the cost of in-lieu parking spaces from $12,500 to $28,900 per space on Aug. 8, 2006, the council agreed to consider other means of allowing developers and property owners to partake in the program.

A staff report signed by City Manager Steve Burrell called for the council to consider an “alternative payment program” that would allow an initial payment of 25 percent of the amount due, followed by the remaining 75 percent being spread over a three-year period. In addition, interest “at the rate the city earns” would be included in the payment. After further discussion, the council declined to pursue the program, and instead received and filed Burrell's report.

Noah's wish - The council approved a memorandum of understanding between the city of Hermosa Beach and an organization known as Noah's Wish.  The organization specializes in animal disaster relief, and will provide evacuation and rescue services for pets in the event of an emergency. There is no cost to the city for the agreement, which will be reviewed annually.

New commission - The council unanimously agreed to form a new commission known as the Emergency Preparedness Commission. The primary goal of the commission will be to help gather information and educate residents and local officials about how to respond in the instance a major disaster occurred.

Hermosa Beach News

Hiring of fire consultant draws complaints

By Chris Yang

Local officials encountered some resistance from the city's firefighter union Tuesday night when the City Council considered a proposal to hire an outside consultant to study operations at the Fire Department.

Fire Chief Russell Tingley attended the meeting and urged the council to undertake the project, dubbed a “staffing and deployment study.” During his comments, Tingley described the proposal as a “much-needed evaluation to determine whether our staffing levels are safe.”

The company considered to conduct the study is a Palo Alto-based firm known as Matrix Consulting Group. Travis Miller, a vice president with the company, attended Tuesday night's meeting to answer questions about the proposal, which would cost the city $27,000. According to the staff report presented to the council, Matrix Consulting would be hired to accomplish six tasks - conduct interviews, develop a descriptive profile, conduct a comparative study with other South Bay departments, develop an analysis of staffing and deployment, analyze the department's training programs and issue a final report to the city.

Last fall, the department's assistant fire chief called for staffing changes in a memo submitted to Tingley prior to his resignation on Dec. 29. In particular, Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Gomez urged Tingley to eliminate his position going forward, and instead create a new position for a fourth full-time captain. Tuesday's proposal made clear that city leaders declined to pursue Gomez's recommendation, opting instead to consider hiring a professional consultant to come up with a solution.  

“The biggest problem we have with this proposal is that there is no mention of increasing the full-time staffing in the task plan,” said Paul Hawkins, president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association. Hawkins also took issue with language in the proposal to consider augmenting the role of the city's reserve firefighters.

According to the city's Web site, reserve firefighters are part-time employees who work one 24-hour shift per week. The primary duty of a reserve firefighter is “to staff the BLS Rescue,” a basic life-support ambulance. Other lesser duties include “assisting with fire-ground operations,” cleaning, cooking and working alongside “full-time personnel with fire inspections.”

“I know your first response is that I'm trying to protect our overtime,” said Hawkins. “In reality, our reserve firefighters have, the only function (they have), is a minimal role right now as basic life-support ambulance operators.”

Hawkins added that any move to expand their role into other areas would be “dangerous” and would “jeopardize our reciprocal agreements” with neighboring cities. He urged the council to “at least amend the questions that are being asked” to consider an increase in paid staff.

Local resident Donn Paben echoed Hawkins' comments by raising concerns about the role of the city's reserve firefighters. Paben, a retired fire captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, consistently referred to the city's reserve firefighters as “ambulance drivers.”

“I have some real problems when I read this,” said Paben. “I understand that these guys did not go through a fire-testing procedure ... Now you're looking at possibly utilizing them in a way to fight fires and better augment the system?” He added that any such move would put “lives in danger” by “using guys that are not truly firefighters.”

After Councilman Kit Bobko questioned the need to conduct the study, City Manager Steve Burrell offered some background about why the city should conduct the study. “For 13 or 14 years, we have had, and the council has discussed, grappled with, both the fire association, the chiefs, myself, as to what the right level of staffing ought to be for the fire service,” said Burrell. “I think it's a really good program for us to do. I think it would give both the management, the City Council and the association a point of departure for further discussions about it.”

It was Councilman Michael Keegan's idea, though, that won the day. He urged his colleagues to continue the matter until Tingley and Burrell considered the input of one member of the firefighter's association. His colleagues eventually agreed and continued the matter pending further discussion between the parties involved. The matter is scheduled to return at the council's next meeting Jan. 23.

Hermosa Beach News

New development to face one final approval hurdle

By Chris Yang

A sign touting the future emergence of “Playa Hermosa Plaza” currently sits in front of the old White and Day Mortuary building located along upper Pier Avenue. The project has sat idle for many months, pending approvals from various government bodies. But should the Coastal Commission bless the project at its next meeting on Jan. 10, demolition of the building might take place within the month, making downtown Hermosa Beach the home of yet another mixed-use commercial property.

The current property owner is LM Pacific Ventures, a real estate development company with offices in Manhattan Beach and El Segundo. LM Pacific Ventures, which also owns three other parcels along Pier Avenue, is planning on demolishing the current structure found at 338 and 400 Pier Ave. and replacing it with roughly 14,580 square feet of office and retail space.

Prior to its approval, Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld was quoted in June in a local publication describing the proposal as “a very attractive project” that would “substantially affect the look of upper Pier.” The Planning Commission subsequently agreed and recommended approving the project on Aug. 15, but not before the developer whittled it down from 14,688 to 14,580 square feet and added several more parking spaces.

According to the city's staff report, the initial project required 70 spaces, but after the developer removed a proposed restaurant from the project and increased the amount of square footage designated for storage, the project's parking requirement dropped to 41 spots. These changes were enough for the commission to vote unanimously in favor of the project. The City Council subsequently agreed with the Planning Commission and declined to review its decision at its next meeting in September.

The developer is now seeking approval from the Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over development within the Coastal Zone. While some cities offer property owners the ability to forgo that particular step when developing property, Hermosa Beach does not. It briefly flirted with the idea of implementing its own Local Coastal Program in 2001, which would grant local officials the power to issue Coastal Development Permits on their own, but withdrew its application before the Coastal Commission considered its application.

A broker with the firm CB Richard Ellis confirmed that the property is “still available” and that lease negotiations on the new project were “just opened.”

“We're working with a number of retailers for the retail portion,” said Morgan McEvoy. “We've got 5,000 square feet on one side and 1,800 square feet of retail on the other.” In addition, the new building will have “executive offices” on the second floor.

McEvoy also stated that demolition of the old White and Day building is already scheduled for later this month, and that construction will occur immediately thereafter. The broker added that Playa Hermosa Plaza is expected to be available sometime in the first quarter of 2008. The building will no longer house a commercial bank as stated on LM Pacific Venture's Web site, but will instead be the home of various retail outlets.

Last fall, Cardinal Real Estate Investments was given permission by the City Council to build a 33-unit office-condominium complex along Hermosa Avenue. Some residents in the vicinity objected to a portion of the new complex being used as a restaurant, but members of the council assured residents in October that a restaurateur would need to receive the city's permission by submitting an application before doing so.

Hermosa Beach News

The State of the City

By Mayor Sam Y. Edgerton, III

As your mayor and senior councilman, I would like to wish everyone a safe and prosperous new year. This is an historic time for our city. One hundred years ago this past Christmas Eve, Hermosa Beach held its first incorporation election and chose its first city officers. The final tally was 24 votes in favor of incorporating Hermosa Beach as a city and 23 votes against. It was the first of many close votes in our city's history and probably spawned the city's first recount. But happily, if a recount did occur, it probably took less than five minutes to complete. What we do know is that with the election certified, Hermosa Beach became a new California city. It received its charter from the state on Jan. 14, 1907.

Hence, Jan. 14, 2007, marks the 100th birthday of Hermosa Beach. As we celebrate the occasion (and as Hermosans, we will), I ask that we reflect not only upon the past year but the last 100 years. I am sure that John Q. Tufts, the city's first mayor, would marvel to see how the city has matured and become known around the world as the quintessential beach town in Southern California.

With all the hoopla about our city and its beautiful beach, people often forget that Hermosa Beach is less than 2 square miles and operates on a relatively small operating budget. The simple fact is that we accomplish a lot with the little we have. We continue to focus the city's spending on badly needed public improvement projects such as the repair of our streets. Fifteen years ago, we made street and Strand repaving a top priority. People may remember the old days when you knew you had crossed over into Hermosa Beach from Manhattan or Redondo Beach because virtually all of the Hermosa Beach thoroughfares, including the Strand, were cracked and broken. Indeed, back in the day it was rumored to be a municipal plan to slow down “speeders.”

Since that time, the city has undergone an aggressive program and has repaved the Strand, the city's arterial avenues and many neighborhood streets. In 2006, we repaved 14 thoroughfares, including Manhattan Avenue. I am sure that Mr. Hermosa, Ralph Matteson, whose 1924 mini-mansion still graces the corner of 19th and Manhattan Avenue, would be proud of his street today. It is the first time that Manhattan Avenue has been repaved in more than 50 years.

Hermosa Beach has always been at its best because its citizens come together to work for a common purpose. The recent completion of the 10-year pier project is a testament to that fact. Indeed, beyond public improvement projects, we are now embarking on new long-term programs to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that we produce. Last month, I signed the Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement making Hermosa Beach the first and only city in the South Bay to become a “Cool City” under the Sierra Club program.

Our future is bright as we improve our city. The flip side of this prosperity is that real estate has become so expensive that it actually challenges our existence as a laid-back beach town. It is incumbent that we do everything to protect our single-family neighborhoods from further subdivision and protect our commercial zones from further mixed-use condominium development. We should do everything we can to preserve the quality of our residential and business areas for our children.

As we usher in the new year, let us be grateful that we live in a beach city with such a great spirit and sense of community. With that said, I wish you all the best and hope to see you on the plaza Jan. 14 for our Centennial Celebration.

Hermosa Beach News

High Court declines to review ruling in favor of School District

By Chris Yang

A longstanding dispute between the local School Board and a group of citizens opposed to its use of funds was put to rest last Wednesday after the California Supreme Court declined to review a trial court's ruling in favor of the Hermosa Beach School District.

“Obviously, we are very pleased with the outcome, but disheartened by the delays and costs associated with this lawsuit,” said board President Cathy McCurdy. “We look forward to completing construction in late May (or) early June.”

McCurdy added that the district incurred a substantial amount of costs as a result of the lawsuit. “We could not award the bids because the lawsuit was pending,” she said. “We couldn't sign a contract when you have a legal action pending.”

The dispute arose fo