Hermosa Beach

The City Council has agreed to hold a hearing March 12 to decide whether to call a June election on a revised development agreement for a proposed beach hotel.

Last December, city voters rejected a development agreement for a previous hotel plan on the same site--the onetime location of a Biltmore hotel--along The Strand between 13th and 15th streets.

Developers Greenwood-Langlois have redesigned the project with ocean view terraces and patio dining in order to give the hotel a more open, less bulky appearance.

The council action was taken at 11:20 p.m.--after most interested parties had left the council chambers--when developer Joseph Langlois asked that an earlier vote establishing a Planning Commission hearing March 19 be reconsidered. If the election is to be held June 11, Langlois said, the council must legally set that date by March 12.

Although the council rejected a motion to reconsider the date of the Planning Commission hearing, the council did agree to hold its own hearing two weeks earlier than it had planned.

Three councilmen expressed concern that the last-minute change could give the public the impression that the council was “ramrodding” the proposal thorough.

“This kind of an action would not induce the public to have confidence in the hotel or in this council,” Councilman John Cioffi said before the final vote. “These extra two weeks, by pushing it the way it’s being pushed tonight, would hurt the project more than help it.”