Redondo Pier May Be on June Ballot After All

The advisory question of whether and how to rebuild the Redondo Beach pier--which the city had wanted to place on the regular June ballot and then decided to ask in a special election--will be submitted for the June ballot after all, the City Council decided Tuesday.

Mayor Brad Parton, who earlier had warned the council that there might not be room for the pier question on the primary ballot, said Tuesday that it appeared that state and county initiatives and candidates would take up less ballot space than had been expected.

About half the pier was destroyed in 1988 after a series of storms and a massive fire. The City Council had decided to rebuild it immediately, but the council’s resolve faltered in the face of opposition from the pier’s neighbors, who contended the landmark looked tacky and attracted street gangs and various riffraff.

In January, a Torrance Superior Court judge ruled that, under the city’s contract with pier businesses, Redondo Beach was obligated to rebuild the pier. But the ruling didn’t come until after a majority of the council members had made campaign promises to put the pier issue to a popular vote.

So in the wake of the ruling, the council has decided both to appeal the decision and to ask the voters whether to rebuild the pier. The ballot question will also ask those who approve of rebuilding the pier if the original mix of businesses should be retained and whether the city should contribute general fund money to the project.

The questions will be submitted to the county registrar-recorder for placement on the June ballot, the council decided Tuesday. But because advisory questions have last priority on crowded ballots, the council also decided to put the mechanism in place for calling a special election sometime this year, if the pier question cannot be squeezed in next June.

That special election, the council decided, would also include a number of proposed City Charter changes, among them a proposal to lift the current two-term limit for council members and the mayor.