Hermosa Beach Self Storage Lot & Civic Center Roulette

(Option 1) Drilling for Oil = Relocating City Maintenance Yard Here

(Option 2) Keep Current Hermosa Beach City Maintenance Yard

I was shocked to hear at the planning commission meeting that CITY STAFF and not the Planning Commission know all of the information about future plans of the City Hall.  New Downtown Civic Center? Apparently, Hermosa Beach's long term plan is to develop a downtown Civic Center.  This plan is now in jeopardy because of the proposed oil drilling project?  Why, because the City Maintenance yard would have to be relocated to the City own Storage lot across the street from City Hall.  What would happen to City Employee parking?  City Staff seems to think that the City Yard can be relocated onto the storage lot without disrupting the parking.

The City was planning to expand City Hall across the street to the Storage Lot above which makes a lot of sense.  But what more do they need downtown and hope to understand in the future?  Transparency please?

According to Mike Flaherty, Public Works Director say this.  "The EIR for the oil project has to address the City yard relocation.  Is E&B going to pay for the relocation?"  No.

Former Hermosa Beach City Councilmen Gary Brutsch said, "oil revenue from the Tidelands could pay for a police and fire substation on The Strand. Brutsch, "believes many people who were in favor of oil drilling in 1984 didn’t have the energy to defeat the anti-oil forces. Brutsch said, "he wanted to designate Hermosa Beach the environmental portal to the Santa Monica Bay by using tidelands revenues to install filters on storm drains that empty into the ocean."   See Easy Reader article.

Zoning for the new City Yard location next to homes would have to be reconsidered to light industrial.  Is the planning commission going to be involved oil EIR process?  Lets hope so.  Will the planning commission be involved in the EIR?  Lets hope so because I bet Planning Commission Chairman Ron Pizer has some input.

You might also want to read this. How does Hermosa Beach plan to pay $17.5M?

A Blessing From The Heavens?

Read These 3 Daily Breeze Article Quotes With A Barf Bag in Hand 

Mayor Howard Fishman said. "We stopped the bleeding. It's the greatest accomplishment this council has done since I've been on it."

Gary Brutsch was a councilman in 1984, when voters approved two Macpherson-backed initiatives allowing drilling. And it was a chance encounter in December with Don Macpherson, his former neighbor, on a flight to Hawaii that paved the way for settlement negotiations to rekindle. Brutsch, a South Bay Realtor, said of the settlement. "At the very least, it has limited the city's liability. I think it was absolutely a blessing from the heavens."

"When you look at technology, and ask, "Is it dangerous?' The answer is not really," Ershaghi said. "People may worry because they are not sure of what the consequences are. The technology is there to make the project safe, it's just a matter of making sure rules and regulations are followed."

Just to be crystal clear, I am NOT questioning Doug Morino the Reporter who did a great job on the article.  Kudos to him for doing a lot of homework.  More to come I am sure.  Read this entire story from the Daily Breeze.