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"Many of us living in Redondo are interested in upgrading our standard of
living."
-Sue Lemme
Harbor landfill dumped, traffic circle scrapped in latest harbor-front design
by Jason Dietrich
Members of a standing-room-only crowd exchanged nervous glances when traffic planners recommended reinstating a 5-way intersection, joining Catalina with the Herondo/Pacific Coast Highway junction. But when consultants brought up the possibility of building an art theater, showing independent and foreign films in a redeveloped section of the waterfront, the sidelong glances gave way to applause.
The Saturday morning gathering at the city's main library was last in a series of community workshops to help plan the future of development for Redondo's waterline. The design is still in its embryonic stages, and has yet to pass the scrutiny of the city council or any state agencies.
Its overall concept, said planner Michael Freedman, is to create a waterfront downtown core, a "main street" for Redondo Beach.
"There aren't a whole lot of public places you can go to in Redondo Beach. It doesn't have a heart," he said.
In the plan, the waterfront's "sea of parking," the massive parking lots along Harbor Drive, would be redeveloped into a "waterfront village," along with portions of the property freed up by the downsizing of the AES power plant. Parts of Catalina Avenue and the civic center also could be redesigned to better blend in with their neighborhoods.
"It would be really nice to have a gathering place in Redondo," said Redondo resident Sue Lemme, adding, "Many of us living in Redondo are interested in upgrading our standard of living."
The seaside village that planners hope to create would be anchored at one end by a fresh produce market. Plans to anchor the other end with a first-run movie theater were dicey, admitted Freedman. The community's response to a large-scale theater was mixed, and many large theater chains aren't building new venues.
Residents said that while they would love to have a "main street" in Redondo, they were worried about the character of the development.
"You don't want to live near someplace where people with nothing to do congregate," said Hermosa resident Joann Riley, who is planning a move to Redondo.
Designers said these concerns could be addressed by careful design and the vigilance of the city council and planning department. But one thing they couldn't promise was that traffic wouldn't increase. Making the waterfront an attractive place to be means more people will want to be there, said Freedman.
"The ability to walk from home to a coffee shop, or from your boat to a bookstore, is coming at a price, that price is a lot more cars," he said. But changes in the geometry of the streets, traffic signal timing, and the location of parking off Harbor Drive should reduce the impact of increased traffic, he said.
"We're talking about creating a million square feet of development and there's no way we can do that with out some increase in traffic," Freedman said.
One of the ways designers suggested to minimize congestion was to get as many of the area's users out of their cars as possible. One way to do that would be to extend the Strand bike path through what is now a city-owned parking lot at the corner of Harbor and Portofino Way, so that it empties out onto a redesigned Harbor Drive. Making Harbor Drive more attractive to cyclists and pedestrians by widening sidewalks and installing mature palm trees would also give the area more of an identity as a distinct destination district.
To cope with the increased parking demand and the spaces that would be absorbed by development, parking consultant Carolyn Krasnow recommended building three new parking structures. The first would handle parking near the proposed theater, a second south of the terminus of harbor drive would and a third west of Harbor Drive would replace the spaces lost by development of the parking lots.
Planners want to build enough parking to cope with summer weekend demand, plus an extra 10 percent as a buffer, to minimize problems parking in the area.
Boaters were worried that they would be forced to lug supplies across Harbor Drive and the Strand to get them on board their boats. Krasnow recommended that part of the western parking structure, which would have more spaces than the current lots, be reserved for the boaters. Parking by the King Harbor and Portofino yacht clubs would remain unaffected.
The deep-sixing of plans to expand Mole B, the projection of land where Harbor Patrol offices are located, drew cheers from boaters who feared the landfill would make navigation in the harbor more difficult.
"We are thrilled that the expansion of Mole B seems to be out of the plan, but there is still very little in this plan that is of direct benefit to boaters," said Bill Webster, commodore of the King Harbor Yacht Club.
Boaters also complained that plans to move the harbor's boat hoist and other boat-servicing facilities to the end of Mole B would create unnecessary traffic and parking problems. Other criticisms of the plan came from those living close to the proposed office/residential development zone along North Catalina Avenue, who were concerned that they would not only suffer increased traffic, but also lose ocean-front views. The development plan proposes increasing the allowed building heights along Catalina Avenue from two to three stories. Height of the proposed seaside village developments would be capped at 40 feet and also limited to three stories.
"The development along Catalina would be great to get rid of the city yard and the failed strip malls, but at what cost to the people that live around there? We invested in the area in a large part because of the views, but now they're talking about taking that away from us," said N. Catalina resident Tony Gingiss.
But allowing prospective developers to put up three-story buildings is essential to attract the kind of development necessary to revitalize the area, Freedman said.
Planners scrapped the idea of installing a large traffic circle at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway, Herondo and Catalina, but did incorporate the re-routing of a spur of Catalina Avenue under the Redondo Beach/King Harbor Archway. Motorists heading west on 190th would be able to turn onto Catalina on a short one-way street. Catalina used to run under the arch until the street was re-rerouted to its present location South of the Herondo/PCH junction. The newly proposed re-routing has already gotten the green light from Caltrans and the city council, and the city plans to seek funds from other government agencies for the re-linking in 2001, said Steve Huang, chief engineer for the city.
The archway sign itself is due for an overhaul, said planners who would like to see it re-done in a nautical theme reminiscent of lighthouses, masts and rigging or a Victorian seaside hotel.
A report from the urban planners Freedman, Tung and Bottomley will be presented to the city council in several weeks. Community members are invited to post their comments to the city's website, www.redondo.org, where information on the plan is posted. ER