Initiative Would Rezone Power Plant Land

No Power Plant and Building a Better Redondo are moving forward with plans for a citizens' initiative to rezone the land underneath the power plant to prevent the plant from repowering over the next decade, BBR founder Jim Light explained at a meeting Thursday night.

The power plant on Harbor Drive uses a process called once-through cooling, which involves pumping ocean water into the plant to cool the superheated steam used to turn the turbines that generate electricity. The ocean water is later cycled back into the Santa Monica Bay.

Because of regulations banning the use of once-through cooling, the plant must be retired by 2020. AES' current contract to provide electricity from the Redondo Beach location expires in 2018.

AES officials say the proposed new plant will be smaller, run cleaner and provide power when renewable resources are offline. Opponents say a new plant would run more often and emit more harmful particulate pollution, as well as continue to depress property values.

During a presentation to the City Council in November, AES officials indicated that they would begin the permitting process in the second quarter of 2012 and that they hoped to have a power contract in place by June of 2013.

That doesn't give plant opponents much time to gather signatures to place the initiative on the March 2013 ballot, Light said.

"I think we have to have our initiative (voted) in by July 2013," he said. If the initiative passes after AES has a contract, it could give the company firmer grounds to sue the city, he explained, comparing the situation to MacPherson Oil's recently settled lawsuit in neighboring Hermosa Beach.

Depending on whether the initiative will change the city charter, opponents will have to get more than 10 percent or 15 percent of Redondo Beach registered voters to sign the petition to put the initiative on the ballot.

"We should be collecting signatures this summer," Light said, adding that he's hoping to gather the proper number of signatures within two months.

The proposed zoning regulations allow commercial and institutional uses on up to 40 percent of the site, provided certain conditions for institutional uses are met, as well as establish view corridors and restrictions on height and density.

"I wanted to give the city and AES as much flexibility as possible without letting them overbuild," Light said.

The commercial and institutional zoning will allow the city to collect revenue that will pay to maintain the parkland. Additionally, the vision for the park seems to be one of a wilderness park, where barbecues, grassy and flat areas, picnics and tents will be prohibited in order to discourage homeless people from camping there.

According to Light, the citizens' initiative is not an "indictment" of the City Council; rather, he believes that the city's processes will be too slow to stop the plant.

And anyway, "we believe a vote of the people is more powerful than the vote of the council to state officials" who will be approving the permits, Light said.