Redondo Again Debates Plan for Recreational Facility at Park : Development: The community center was originally proposed in the 1970s. But area residents have successfully fought construction. A decision must be made about funds collected for the project.

Community centers are usually not the focus of lawsuits and angry rhetoric and City Council debates stretching on for two decades. But try to convince folks in Redondo Beach of that.

A controversial recreational facility proposed for the city’s Alta Vista Park has been repeatedly rejected by City Council members since the 1970s. Residents have lined up for and against the center, which city officials say would serve the very people who are lobbying against it.

The issue resurfaced last week with council members directing staff to investigate a smaller center as a compromise. But opponents continued to resist, saying they don’t want any construction in the park.

The center was first proposed nearly 20 years ago when the developer of the Brookside Apartments next to Alta Vista Park changed the units to condominiums. In a deal with the city that allowed the developer to avoid parking requirements and other city restrictions, condo buyers were assessed $2,000 each for construction of a 5,000-square-foot, multiple-use recreational facility that would include meeting rooms, a basketball court, a kitchen and restrooms.

But other residents living near the park have argued vigorously--and successfully--against the center, saying it would intrude on the park’s soccer and baseball fields, as well as contribute to traffic tie-ups.

As the years have passed, interest income has boosted the condominium assessment fund to nearly $1.5 million. Brookside residents recently filed a lawsuit to recover the money if the city does not build the center. In an opinion last year, City Atty. Gordon C. Phillips advised the council that the fund could only be used to build the community center and not for other improvements at Alta Vista or projects elsewhere in the city.

“The residents say, ‘Hey, you can’t put anything in there. It will take up our playing fields,’ ” said Bob Atkinson, the city’s longtime parks director. “The council is caught in the middle between the condo residents who want their money back and the soccer-baseball parents.”

Last week, the council took up the issue again and decided in a 3-2 vote to have the Parks and Recreation Commission come up with plans for a scaled back, 2,000-square-foot facility on one of two proposed sites near the park’s northern edge.

The park, which has tennis courts, two baseball diamonds and a large field used for soccer, is less than a mile from the ocean, next to Alta Vista School at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Camino Real.

The facility proposed last week by Councilwoman Barbara J. Doerr, whose South Redondo district includes the park, would be far smaller and cheaper than a 5,000-square-foot building considered earlier, which would have cost $1.3 million. But its uses would be essentially the same: a gathering spot for teen-agers and a place to hold community meetings.

“There’s opposition to any building, and there are people that want a center,” said Councilman Joe White, who was elected earlier this year. “What we’re trying to do is put a small one in there that satisfies both sides.”

But after two decades of disagreement, an easy compromise is not likely.

“I think the park is fine the way it is,” said Cheryl Kohr, who lives a block from the park and whose son plays soccer and T-ball there. “Attracting more people and traffic is not what I want. We need the green space there.”

Supporters of the center maintain that there are not enough gathering places in the city of 60,000 residents for community groups, youth programs and other such activities. The city has four senior citizen centers but no such facilities for youth activities, according to Kandi Lancaster, chairwoman of the parks commission.

John Parsons, a resident who spoke in favor of the center at last week’s meeting, said he wants the community center to be large enough to accommodate several events at once, but not so large that parking becomes a problem.

Once the Parks and Recreation Commission comes up with more detailed plans of the new center in the next couple months, the issue will return to the council. Mayor Brad Parton says it is time for the city to put an end to the longstanding debate.