Redondo Beach slaps temp ban on mixed-use projects

Redondo Beach officials put a temporary ban on mixed-use developments, in a nod to growing opposition to large-scale projects in the city. The ban, a major blow to developers, could be extended up to two years.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a 45-day moratorium on new mixed-use projects, with an option to extend the ban following a vote scheduled for Sept.19. 

Mayor Bill Brand classified mixed-use projects as a “a sign of overdevelopment, a sign of change of character of a neighborhood,” according to the Daily Breeze.

“Redondo does not have a housing shortage and the crisis we do have really is a traffic crisis and an on-again, off-again water crisis,” Brand told the newspaper. “And if we continue with a lot of this residential, soon we’ll have school overcrowding.”

The temporary ban doesn’t affect projects that have already been approved, such as the pending makeover of the South Bay Galleria. Developer Forest City plans to add 300 units of housing, a 150-room hotel and more than 1 million square feet of retail space to the mall site.

Banning new development was first considered by the previous council in 2015 after criticism over projects on Pacific Coast Highway.

At the time, city leaders tabled the discussion to focus on updating its mixed-use guidelines in the General Plan. However, now that an advisory committee is overhauling the city’s General Plan, which would possibly rezone areas dedicated for mixed-use development, the moratorium was put into place. The committee expects to present its updates to city leaders next year. [Daily Breeze] — Subrina Hudson