Lawndale Considers Suing Hawthorne Over Mattel Project

Lawndale city officials say they are considering legal action against the city of Hawthorne over a large redevelopment project approved this week by the Hawthorne City Council.

The dispute centers on the 36-acre “Mattel Project,” which involves revamping and expanding Mattel Inc.’s corporate headquarters near Rosecrans Avenue and the San Diego Freeway. The giant toy maker once manufactured products there, including its popular Barbie dolls, but moved its manufacturing operations overseas years ago.

A number of other developments, including a hotel, two restaurants, and retail and office buildings, are also planned as part of the $150-million project, which is expected ultimately to generate millions of new tax dollars for Hawthorne.

At Monday’s Hawthorne City Council meeting, Lawndale Mayor Sarann Kruse urged council members to delay approving a development agreement for the project.

Kruse took Hawthorne council members to task, saying planners had failed to determine the combined environmental impacts that the Mattel project and another Hawthorne redevelopment project less than a mile away would have on Lawndale. The second project, which includes a 28-acre parcel on the east side of the San Diego Freeway, is in the planning stages.

Kruse urged council members not to make a decision until officials from Lawndale and Hawthorne had an opportunity to sit down together and study the matter.

“We are coming to see it is not possible for the city of Lawndale to solve its problems in isolation,” Kruse said.

Kruse outlined her objections in a lengthy letter she delivered to Hawthorne council members just minutes before their 7 p.m. meeting. She was accompanied by an attorney from the law firm that regularly represents Lawndale on legal matters.

Hawthorne council members did not address Kruse and offered little public comment before approving on a 4-0 vote an agreement with Comstock, Crosser and Hickey Development Co., based in Manhattan Beach. Councilman David York was absent.

On Tuesday, Kruse said Lawndale council members will meet Aug. 6 to discuss whether to file suit against Hawthorne. She declined to comment further.

Hawthorne Mayor Betty Ainsworth said in an interview that Kruse’s letter and appearance before the council came as a surprise to her and her colleagues.

“It’s like we had everything together and ready to go and then, boom!” she said. “They could have written us a letter; they could have phoned us and said, ‘We would like to meet with you.’ ”

Ainsworth said plans for the Mattel project have been in the works for two years, and that Hawthorne officials had met on several occasions with Lawndale to discuss the project.

“We felt we were addressing their concerns,” she said. “And we will continue working with them.”

Ainsworth said that even though the city is now negotiating with a developer for the second redevelopment project, the deal could fall through. The proposal includes more retail development as well as townhouses and condominiums. If the second project does move forward, the cumulative environmental impacts of it and the Mattel project will be studied by planners, she said.

Other Hawthorne city officials said proper procedures had been followed in preparing the environmental report for the Mattel project, including its impacts on Lawndale.

For example, because of the increased traffic congestion the project is expected to bring, a $1.5-million fund has been established to improve nearby roadways, they said.

Bob Comstock, managing partner of the development company, said obtaining quick approval for the project from council members was essential.

In all, the company’s plan hinges on five pending agreements, one of which allows a property owner to pull out if escrow on his parcel does not close by September. “For us to hit our deadlines, it was really important for us to move forward,” he said.

Preliminary plans call for the construction of two restaurants, at least one hotel, numerous retail buildings and up to 500,000 square feet of office space.

The project would also allow Mattel, which owns seven acres of land in the redevelopment area, to consolidate its offices and do away with space once reserved for manufacturing. The company’s existing six-story building will be remodeled, and another low-rise office building will be built.

“The situation has developed into an inefficient one for us,” Mattel spokesman Glenn Bozarth said. “Our needs are very different today than they were in the ‘50s and ‘60s when we first occupied the land.”

The entire redevelopment project is expected to be completed by 1996 and to bring the city up to $2 million annually in new revenue, according to Bud Cormier, Hawthorne’s assistant director of redevelopment.