City to Decide Next Step in BBR Case

The city of Redondo Beach will ponder the next steps in its case against Building a Better Redondo (BBR) during a closed session of Tuesday's City Council meeting, according to the agenda. An appellate court recently ruled that the city must pay $313,000 in court costs to attorney Frank Angel, who represented BBR in the zoning battle that led to the passage of Measure G.

Pending and current litigation are some of the exceptions to the Brown Act, California's open meetings law.

BBR, a slow-growth group, first filed a after the City Council voted to approve new zoning regulations in the harbor area. BBR saw the move as a violation of Measure DD, which requires all significant land-use changes be approved by residents.

The first ruling in favor of BBR came during the summer of 2010, and the zoning changes were placed on the November ballot as Measure G, which voters passed.

In October, a , much to the dismay of some city councilmen, who maintained that the group's attorney charged too much money. The city appealed the ruling.

Angel called the January verdict a "major victory" that "completely vindicated us," according to a Daily Breeze article published at the end of January.

City Attorney Mike Webb, however, said the verdict put the city in a "difficult position."

Nevertheless, the city did win a in December, according to BBR President Jim Light. BBR sued the city for documents detailing the city's legal expenditures during the harbor zoning battle.

Light said he decided not to appeal that verdict at Webb's request via a surrogate.