Council OKs General Plan for Lawndale Development

A plan to revitalize Lawndale’s sagging image and create an urban village along Hawthorne Boulevard is expected to go before the voters in April after receiving approval from the City Council Tuesday.

The council voted 3 to 2, with Mayor Harold Hofmann and Councilman Larry Rudolph dissenting, to adopt a proposed General Plan drafted by a 14-member citizens committee and amended by the Planning Commission. The General Plan, supported by council members Norm Lagerquist, Carol Norman and Bill Johnson, is a wide-ranging document outlining the city’s development objectives.

The council did not set a date for putting the plan before the voters, but the proposal is expected to be included on the ballot for the April municipal elections. Supporters of the new blueprint say it envisions reconstructing part of Hawthorne Boulevard to revitalize businesses and create urban plazas where people would enjoy shopping.

Sources for funding have yet to be worked out.

The action was highly unpopular with an overflow crowd at the council meeting. Several people said they feared the plan could lead to the city’s acquisition of their business or residential property through eminent domain procedures.

“The people of Lawndale should be very, very concerned,” said Pete Paley, a member of the citizens panel that shaped the General Plan over the past year. “I think they should vote against (the plan).”

The committee tried to prohibit the city from using eminent domain rights to acquire property for private development, but the Planning Commission deleted the policy statement before submitting the final version to the council.

Hofmann and Rudolph unsuccessfully lobbied for the clause to be replaced.

“I don’t want the chance of it (eminent domain) being used on me,” Hofmann said, adding that he twice has had property taken from him through eminent domain.

Lawndale has been operating without a General Plan for several years. In November, 1989, voters rejected a proposed General Plan that had been in place since 1976. Although the state requires every city to have a General Plan, the city was given two years to approve a new plan. The deadline was met with only three days to spare.