Vacant Redondo Right of Way a Step Closer to Becoming Park

Despite continued resistance from commuters who believe Redondo Beach needs more roads, the Lilienthal right of way--once considered as a potential street--moved a step closer this week to becoming a neighborhood park.

On the recommendation of the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission, the City Council approved plans to install a bike lane, sandbox, restrooms and grassy slopes on the vacant lot between the end of Lilienthal Lane and the beginning of Anza Avenue at 190th Street.

The $200,000 project, expected to take three months to complete, will break ground this summer. Initially, the 1.5-acre park site was acquired by the city as a right of way for a street that would link Anza Avenue to the smaller residential streets north of 190th Street.

That latter plan still has some supporters, who persisted Tuesday night in their attempts to persuade the council to make the vacant lot into a street.

Pat Jackson, who lives on nearby Rindge Lane, argued that a new thoroughfare would be the only way to funnel commuter traffic away from his congested residential street, and Richard Houser, who also lives near--but not on--Lilienthal Lane, accused the city council of being “park-happy.”

But another longstanding park opponent, Councilman Terry Ward, said Tuesday he had changed his mind and now supports a park there. Ward said he has been convinced that a new road in the area would only encourage out-of-town commuters to continue short-cutting through the narrow and already gridlocked neighborhoods of North Redondo Beach on their way to work at TRW.