Hawthorne Hits Back at Lawndale in Fight Over Expected Traffic

Lawndale’s efforts to block a redevelopment project in neighboring Hawthorne are merely a scheme to force Hawthorne to pay for public improvements in Lawndale, according to a court document filed this week.

The document filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Hawthorne was in response to a suit filed by Lawndale, accusing Hawthorne officials of approving the redevelopment project without assessing all its environmental effects.

Wants Project Halted

The suit filed last month by Lawndale said the 36-acre Mattel project, to be built four blocks west of Lawndale’s border, will clog Lawndale streets. Lawndale wants the project halted to further study mitigating measures.

In its response, Hawthorne said it took into consideration all environmental impacts caused by the redevelopment project, which is near the San Diego Freeway and Rosecrans Avenue. The response also said Lawndale failed to express its concerns during the 45 days allotted for responses to the environmental report on the project.

Furthermore, the court response said Lawndale filed the suit to “hold the project hostage for ransom as a financing scheme” to get Hawthorne to pay for public improvements in Lawndale.

Renee Campbell, an attorney for Hawthorne, said Lawndale is seeking payment for the cost of mitigating traffic problems not caused by the Mattel project.

“They want to solve (other) problems on the back of this project,” she said.

Lawndale Assistant City Atty. Robert Owen rejected that allegation. “The lawsuit was motivated by the general concern over traffic in Lawndale” caused by the project, Owen said.

Campbell, on the other hand, said Lawndale has provided no independent studies to illustrate traffic problems from the Mattel project. “All they are doing is speculating and using conjecture,” she said.

Request Denied

Owen said that Lawndale is studying the potential traffic problems and that Hawthorne refused to delay the environmental impact report until the two cities could discuss the matter.

The Mattel project, which was approved in July, will include a 450,000-square-foot office center, 232,700 square feet of retail space, including two restaurants, and a 154-room hotel. It will create an additional 17,570 daily vehicle trips in the area, according to the environmental impact report on it.

Lawndale has also objected to another redevelopment project: the 28-acre Cloverleaf complex, south of Rosecrans Avenue on the opposite side of the San Diego Freeway. The complex will include up to three hotels, 465 condominiums, a retail center, restaurants and a health club.

The environmental report on the Cloverleaf complex says it will increase traffic on adjacent streets, now about 6,660 vehicle trips a day, by an estimated 11,820 trips a day--which also has Lawndale officials worried.

Although the two projects will increase traffic by almost 30,000 vehicle trips a day, Hawthorne Assistant Redevelopment Director Bud Cormier said the developers of the two projects have agreed to provide $2.8 million for traffic-mitigation measures, such as widening streets and adding turn lanes in both cities.

Lawndale officials questions whether some of the improvements promised for their city will ever be completed.