Fall General Meeting

Our first General Meeting of the 2015-16 “RHA Year” is scheduled for this Wednesday, Sept 16th, 7PM at Richardson Middle school.
At this RHA meeting, we’ll give an update on the status of both the Cape Point/Sea Breeze project at PCH and Prospect, as well as the Legado (Bristol Farms) mixed-use developments.

The main event will feature a candidates forum with each of the four people running for the open Torrance Unified School District Board of Education.  If you don’t know much about our school board, here are some useful references:

• TUSD Board of Education
• Ballotpedia – election information

The Riviera Homeowners Association Board will host this forum.  There will be three general questions each candidate will be asked to answer, then there will be a period of Q&A from the audience.  You may come to the microphone or fill out a 3×5 card with your question.  Please keep your questions short and relevant, and be respectful towards the candidates and fellow residents.  We expect considerable discussion, but will try to wrap up by 9:00PM.

Important  Redondo Beach City Council meeting set for Sept. 15!

Tuesday, Sept 15th, 6PM presents an opportunity to speak up about the Cape Point / Sea Breeze mixed use development at PCH off Prospect.  (This City Council Meeting takes place at Redondo Beach City Council chambers, 415 Diamond Street, off PCH).
For Tuesday’s agenda click here and look for item L.2:

[CONTINUED] PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER AN APPEAL OF PLANNING COMMISSION DECISION APPROVING A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT… FOR FIFTY-TWO (52) RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUM UNITS AND APPROXIMATELY 10,552 SQUARE FEET OF GROUND FLOOR COMMERCIAL SPACE LOCATED WITHIN A MIXED-USE (MU-3A) ZONE AT 1914-1926 S. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY.

Artist’s rendering of Sea Breeze Plaza development at 1914-1926 S. PCH

Please attend if you wish to learn more about the project, or weigh in with your opinions.

Fall?  Doesn’t feel like fall!

Our El Retiro Library hosts a wonderful program at the end of this month:

Fabulous Fall Story & Craft
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM  Wednesday September 30
El Retiro Library, 126 Vista del Parque
Admission is free
For questions about this program and other youth and adult programs
offered by the library, please call 310-375-0922

Did you know?

The RHA, in partnership with the Riviera Garden Club, gives a monthly Landscape award to a different homeowner each month.  To see the latest awards, and those going all the way back to 1989, click on our website’s Riviera Landscapes page.
Do you know of a front yard landscape that beautifies our Riviera, even your own, that should win this coveted award?  Email our landscape chairperson, and make a case for it.  Please provide an email address or phone number along with the street address.

And now for this important announcement:

All the activities – landscape awards, general meetings, scholarship awards, the Riviera Reporter newsletters –  of your Riviera Homeowners Association -are funded by your gracious donations.
This is the time of year when we seek your voluntary membership dues so we can continue the effort to support the preservation and advancement of the Hollywood Riviera.  So please take a minute to print and send in this membership form with your dues, or you can easily use our safe Paypal connection at your discretion.

Click on form for a larger copy, then print

Thank you, and see you in the neighborhood!

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A short letter of gratitude recently sent by RHA Co-president Amy Josefek:

Honorable Mayor Furey and City Councilmembers:

I’m not sure how often residents come to you with good news or compliments.  I’m happy to be here for that reason!
I’m sure we were all terribly saddened upon hearing news of the horrific banner tow plane crash at the Compton airport earlier this month.
I know how relieved I was that this fatality did not occur in the Hollywood Riviera, or at Torrance Airport or anywhere in the city of Torrance.
I recently received confirmation that the owner of the doomed plane was none other than the Aviad corporation of Massachusetts. I simply want to express my thanks to City Council for looking out for our safety by having cancelled Aviad’s Torrance airport contract this past year, thereby stopping them from towing banner planes over our homes.

Movie in the Park reminder – this weekend

Everyone’s invited for a Family Movie Night August 29 at El Retiro Park. Picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs are welcome as the park turns into movie theaters! Movie begins at dusk (around 8:00 p.m.). So bring your warm clothes, popcorn, cocoa, and snacks; and join in watching Happy Feet!
Movies in the Park brought to us for free by the Torrance Community Service division (more gratitude).
For more information, please call (310) 618-2930.

September General Meeting / Candidates forum

Save this date for the first General Meeting for our 2015-16 year.  Primarily, this will be a candidates forum  for the 2 open TUSD School Board positions.  We hope to have all four candidates present to present their ideas and answer your questions.  Please spread the word to your school PTA, parents, and neighbors.

7:00 PM Wednesday September 16
at the Richardson Middle School Cafeteria,
23751 Nancy Lee Lane

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There have been two (fascinating) hearings in the past couple of weeks, over the two most pressing projects that will affect our neighborhood for decades to come. You may have seen coverage in Daily Breeze, Beach Reporter and Easy Reader. If not:

July 16, Planning Commission re Legado –

Commissioners agreed that even the newly reduced plan for 149 rental units (down from 182) is still far too dense and out of character for this location, and that suggestions offered for reducing traffic issues will not only do virtually nothing to mitigate already major problems, but only increase the already overburdened intersections.

In addition, the outreach conducted by developer’s reps was deemed woefully insufficient, and residents concerns were basically ignored in revision of plans.

What’s next?  Planning Commission will meet on August 20^th (7 pm) to make their decision on whether they can deny the project as recently presented.

July 21, City Council appeal hearing re Cape Point –

Council members agreed with the main argument that using the alley off Prospect for resident entry and exit would be terribly dangerous to motorists and pedestrians alike.  That, along with concerns that this mixed-use development of 52 condos would further increase area traffic.

Councilman Brand echoed our call for a true vision for the future of this community, plus a moratorium on such projects until such a sustainable plan is presented.

What’s next?  A 3-2 decision led to a continuance until September 1st (6 pm), at which time a vote will be taken on whether to allow this project to proceed as planned.

NOTE: Neither of these developers will give up easily, and anything can still happen with both of these projects. But, we have shown that Commissioners and Council members DO LISTEN when residents show up and speak out!

Please put these dates — Aug 20 and Sep 1 — on your calendar. Come to RB City Hall to support your neighbors in our opposition to these projects as currently planned. While told there will not be opportunity at either for additional public testimony, we must show a continued presence, reminding both the Planning Commission and City Council of their earlier decisions and our opposition.

The Save the Riviera group is working for the benefit of us all, to support development that enhances our quality of life, not detracts from it.

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The  PCH fencing and greenery project

…still in process! On June 19,  Public Works was notified by CalTrans that they will be doing soil testing on the south side median as the first step in constructing a permanent fence along PCH across from South High School.  Due to the drought, landscaping plans are in jeopardy.  The RHA is continuing to encourage the city and CalTrans to provide an alternative to unsightly and unhealthy bare dirt.

The Tree and View ordinance

…is still being reviewed by a city council committee and will come back to a city council meeting with their recommendation, by this fall.  We will notify residents when this issue is on the city council agenda, so that those who are interested can attend and speak at the meeting.

New developments with…

…LEGADO:

It’s imperative that we have an incredibly strong resident turnout, when the Planning Commission of the City of Redondo Beach holds their public hearing on the Project this Thursday July 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, 415 Diamond Street, Redondo Beach CA, 90277. Check into facebook.com/SavetheRiviera for the most current information.
While we are told that Legado is planning on presenting a slightly revised plan (for 149 rental units, in addition to almost 40,000 SF of retail space, plus the 110-room PV Inn), we still feel that is too great a density on the old Bristol Farms site.  The plans, as far as Legado has been willing to share, still indicate big, bulky blocks of concrete, with little public or green space, a look that is simply not in keeping with our beach community, and density that will bring an unmanageable amount of additional traffic to our streets.
We did a great job in conveying our dissatisfaction with the initial plans, at the March 19th Planning Commission hearing.  We’ll need to make sure that a huge number of residents show up for this next hearing, trumpeting the same message, so that the Commissioners understand they simply cannot approve these plans, created by folks who don’t live anywhere near here, and have no interest in truly improving our area, but simply making big bucks out of our community.
The architectural plans/drawings, environmental documents and other background documents and studies referenced are online here.

…1914-1926 PCH (Cape Point)

This mixed use project of 52 condos and some 10,000 SF of retail space was unanimously approved by the RB Planning Commission at the May 21st hearing.
Unfortunately, the Commissioners allowed this also too-dense project, with major traffic and safety problems, to go through unchallenged and unrevised.  .  A major problem here is that the alley that runs between the church and the condo/property will serve as the in/out road for these new homeowners, and will create even bigger safety and traffic concerns than it already does, for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike. This is the same alley used by parents dropping off kids for the St Lawrence Martyr Church School!
Happily, an appeal has been filed on behalf of all of us, and residents will be able to make their voices heard by the Redondo Beach City Council (rather than Planning Commission) this time.  They’ll need to hear us loud and clear, and know that there must be a vision for this community, without continuous approval of piecemeal projects that will continue to put pedestrian (and driver) safety at risk.
This appeal hearing is at 6pm on Tuesday, July 21st, at Redondo Beach City Council chambers (415 Diamond, off PCH).
Please be sure to share the information with your friends and neighbors, both in the Hollywood Riviera, and nearby communities.  These overdevelopment plans will affect us ALL, and for many, many years to come!  We are all for development of these properties, but they must be appropriate, sustainable plans for each.
Whether you live directly across from one of these sites, or many blocks or even miles away (think of PV residents who are forced to pass thru the PCH + PVB intersection daily), if you use our streets, and enjoy spending time in our community, you are sure to feel the results of these new projects. Recent votes in Hermosa and Redondo (as well as Manhattan Beach’s just-announced moratorium on downtown building) have shown how citizens can work together to get the right things done! Please be sure to take the time to join us in these efforts.

Our cool treasure

Have you been to the El Retiro Library lately?  With the onset of hot weather, think of the library as a place to cool down, read a magazine, or check out the new acquisition shelf for the latest books.  If you have little ones, there’s Toddlertime at 11:00am on Wednesdays.  It’s not just for homework any more!

Save the movie date:

Everyone’s invited for a Family Movie Night August 29 at El Retiro Park. Picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs are welcome as the park turns into movie theaters! Movie begins at dusk (around 8:00 p.m.). So bring your warm clothes, popcorn, cocoa, and snacks; and join in watching ‘Happy Feet’!
Movies in the Park brought to us by the Torrance Community Service division.  For more information, please call (310) 618-2930.

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If you’ve been following our website, you know the RHA has been researching and participating in discussions regarding the two proposed Redondo Beach developments which border our community.   The massive 4-story mixed use development at the old Bristol Farms site has been withdrawn, but the developer, Legado Companies, still intends to submit plans based on as yet unknown revisions.  According to the city “the applicant has requested to postpone the May 21, 2015 public hearing to prepare a revised project, which reduces the number of residential units and eliminates the request for a Density Bonus and associated concessions.”

Please try to stay informed on this subject.   The hearing by the Redondo Beach City Council was postponed, but is coming up quickly: June 18.  Click here for the RB Planning Commission agendas.  Meanwhile the “Legado Outreach Team” is offering a meeting: Saturday, May 30, 2015  9:00 AM-11:00 AM at the Palos Verdes Inn- 1700 S. Pacific Coast Hwy, where you may be able to learn what new plans are being considered.

The other development, at PCH and Prospect is being considered for approval this week at the May 21 RB Planning Commission meeting.  Click here for that agenda.  This is being described as “a mixed-use development to include 52 residential condominium units and approximately 10,552 square feet of ground floor retail and office spacewith a total of 182 parking spaces on a 1.49 acre property.”  As with the Legado development, there are concerns about traffic flow, increased congestion, and adjacency to a school.

Still developing…

The RHA encourages you to stay informed on these 2 developments which will create an impact on the Hollywood Riviera, during construction, and for years thereafter.  A good source of information is the Save the Riviera website.  Also, you may email the RHA co-presidents to get updates delivered to your email address.

New market opening

H Mart, a grocery store specializing in Asian foods, will be coming to the former OSH space, at the Vista Project, 4340 Pacific Coast Highway (at Anza).  This is in Torrance, and so on Wednesday, May 20th at 7pm, at Torrance Civic Auditorium, the Planning Commission will publicly review their Conditional Use Permit, pertaining to H Mart’s planned store and food court at that location.  They plan to open this October.  Click here to see the Planning Commission’s agenda for that date.  More traffic, but more food!

View obstruction ordinance goes before city council Tuesday night

According to the Torrance Community Development department, there will be an item regarding the potential ordinance on the Tuesday, May 19 Council Agenda.  However, the item is only asking for direction as to what body will hear the next steps, and is not intended to address the actual issue at this time.  Once a hearing body has been designated, they will schedule a meeting to discuss next steps in formulating an ordinance.  If you’re interested in the progress toward a view ordinance you may wish to attend; however, there may not be public input at this time.  For the full City Council agenda, click here. To view the City Council meetings on video, click here.

Busy week!

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