Redondo May OK Freeze on Building Near Harbor

The Redondo Beach City Council is expected to impose a 90-day moratorium Tuesday on development in the North Catalina Avenue Corridor, while a comprehensive plan is prepared for the area at the entrance to King Harbor.

City officials said the move is necessary to forestall development that could conflict with longstanding plans to convert the run-down, triangular-shaped site into a modern commercial center that would cater to harbor visitors.

The moratorium would block current plans by developers to build a sprawling, self-storage warehouse, office buildings and various stores in the 15-square-block harbor gateway area of North Catalina Avenue between Pacific Coast Highway and Beryl Street. Old businesses and dilapidated houses now dominate much of the area, particularly the stretch south of Gertruda Avenue.

Planning for Visitors

Douglas N. McIsaac, a senior planner in the city’s Community Development Department, said a plan drawn up in 1987 proposed using the Catalina corridor for arts and crafts shops, seafood markets, clothing and sports equipment stores, convention facilities, restaurants, nightclubs, outlets for clothing and sports equipment, and other visitor-oriented businesses.

For the past decade, McIsaac said in a report to the council this week, the Catalina corridor “has been recognized for its potential, with proper planning, (as) a specialized commercial area that would be a highly positive asset to the city.”

He said the corridor is a major entry route to the Redondo Pier and other harbor locations and, through a “commercial transformation,” could provide an “attractive and inviting environment” that would enhance the city’s image and boost business in the harbor area.

At a meeting Tuesday, the council authorized a study of the Catalina corridor by Envicom Inc. at a cost of $34,720. The firm, which is also the city’s General Plan consultant, will review the short- and long-term development issues and come up with an interim control ordinance by the end of the moratorium.

If the ordinance is adopted by the council, McIsaac said, its provisions will be incorporated into the General Plan, which is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Several council members were reluctant to block corridor development plans that are already in the works and in conformance with the area’s current zoning and other requirements.

But the council heeded what planners termed a need for “interim measures to protect long-term planning interests” and voted unanimously for the 90-day study by Envicom. The emergency building moratorium to be voted on Tuesday would maintain the status quo until the study is completed.

One of the proposed development projects on the west side of Catalina, between Francisca Avenue and Broadway, would utilize part of the Santa Fe Railway’s right-of-way. The council instructed planners to look into the possibility of the city acquiring that portion of the strip for public use.