Private Meetings Force New Vote on Biltmore Site

An apparent violation of the state open meetings law has added yet another chapter to the long-running saga of Hermosa Beach’s quest to find a new use for the Biltmore site on The Strand.

Mayor Roger Creighton, Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Sheldon and Councilman Robert Essertier took part in separate private discussions--what are sometimes called serial meetings--about a new proposal for the site, the three said at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“Inadvertently and unintelligently, we have--as far as the public is concerned--a violation of the Brown Act,” Creighton said.

Under the state Brown Act, closed meetings to discuss city business are prohibited except in special circumstances, including personnel matters and land acquisition. Such closed meetings may include serial meetings, in which enough council members to form a majority discuss city business in separate private discussions.

The flap about the private discussions comes two weeks after the council took steps to end a controversy that has dogged the city since the old Biltmore Hotel was torn down in 1965. The site, a little less than an acre on the beach between 14th and 15th street, has become a weed-choked vacant lot.

On July 10, the council voted 3-2 to sell the lot for residential development and begin the uncertain process of applying to the Coastal Commission for the necessary permits. City officials estimated that the city would net between $8 million to $10 million from the sale. The plan was to use the money to buy parkland elsewhere in the city.

But the council decided Tuesday that the discussions in the past week involving Creighton, Essertier and Sheldon require reopening the matter for a public hearing and a new vote because any future council decision on the matter might be tainted by the Brown Act violation. A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 14.

Creighton said that he became concerned about a possible Brown Act violation on Tuesday when Essertier called him and brought up the latest idea for the site. Sheldon said he also had discussions with Essertier about the proposal, which has not yet been formally presented to the council.

The proposal--a compromise between the city’s plans for housing and a rejected proposal to make the entire area into a park--was to split the property into a park on The Strand with housing behind the park.

Creighton said he immediately cut off his conversation with Essertier after the councilman brought up the proposal. The mayor said he then contacted City Manager Kevin Northcraft, who checked with the city attorney.

Creighton said he decided to raise the matter at the council meeting “as soon as the city manager told me I was involved in a potential or possible . . . violation of the Brown Act.”

Assistant City Atty. Edward Lee advised the council to reopen the public hearing on the Biltmore site.

“I hate like hell to be in a position to back up,” Creighton said.

But Councilman Albert Wiemans, who favors a park on the site, said he does not mind reopening the public hearing at all.

“I am looking forward to the public input,” he said. “The more, the merrier.”