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Residents against Rezoning forms to oppose initiative
by John Tawa
As the initiative to rezone the Metlox site for public use moves toward the ballot box, a group calling itself "Residents against Rezoning" is forming to oppose it.
Helene Lohr, a Manhattan Beach resident and business owner, began the group a few weeks ago.
"I found out there were a lot of people who felt as I did, that the initiative was really going to be detrimental to the city if it passed," Lohr explained. "So I started making phone calls and got a core group together."
The group has now had three meetings, with its membership growing each time. It now includes some of the city's most prominent citizens, among them former mayors Russ Lesser and Bob Holmes, David Levin, past president of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association; Parks & Recreation Commission member Gerry O'Connor, and Mac McClellan, board chairman for the Chamber of Commerce.
"We want this to be a group from all different areas in the city, consisting of residents from all walks of life," Lohr said. "So far, we've ended up with a really broad spectrum of people in town who are involved one way or another."
The group, still in the formative stages, hopes to file papers next week with the Fair Political Practices Commission. A statement of the group's principal issues should follow shortly thereafter.
While the group's members may have different perspectives on what should become of the Metlox site, they all share the view that the ballot initiative to rezone Metlox for public use only would be fiscally irresponsible at this time.
"Residents against Rezoning is not a pro-commercial development group," O'Connor said. "We're against limiting the options available. We're against ballot box zoning, if you will."
O'Connor explained that with an environmental impact study under way for the Metlox site, any movement to restrict the property's development was premature.
"The EIR process should, if carried out effectively, provide information that better defines the exact impact of various options, including open space or park usage," he said. "It's at that point in time when the EIR is completed that decisions should be made. But to do it now is to limit options without sufficient data."
Lohr also said that the group was formed to counteract misinformation spread by Residents for a Quality City, which Lohr said contributed to their obtaining more than 8,500 signatures on their petition.
"We felt that if more people had had the facts going into this petition, a lot of people wouldn't have signed it," Lohr said. "If they have the facts, they'll realize this is not good for the city. We're an education committee. We want to put out the facts as accurately as possible and counteract what has been put out there."
"The 8,500 signatures do not represent 8,500 voices who are opposed to the current plan," O'Connor asserted. "They represent 8,500 people who responded to misinformation and signed a piece of paper. In many cases, the simple question was 'Would you like to see a park?' If somebody asked me, I'd say 'yes.'"
While Residents against Rezoning is forming, the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder's Office continues to calculate whether the petition contains the 3,600 valid signatures needed to qualify the measure for a special election. Manhattan Beach City Clerk Liza Tamura said Monday that the County hadn't yet said when it will complete the count. Once Tamura receives word from the County that the signature threshold has been met, the city council by law will have to declare an election within 88 to 103 days thereafter. ER