Accord Reached on Plan for Retail, Movie Complex

The city and a developer have reached a tentative settlement with a group of residents who filed a lawsuit seeking to block construction of a massive retail complex in the city’s Lower Hastings Ranch neighborhood.

The lawsuit, filed by Pasadena Residents for a Healthy Environment, sought an environmental impact report on the proposed Hastings Village Shopping Center, saying it will generate significant traffic, noise and air pollution. The group cited a plan for a 14-screen movie theater at the site as their biggest concern.

Developer Ira Smedra said Wednesday the settlement calls for an environmental report on the theater’s potential impact but allows the rest of the project to move to construction.

He said that the 300,000-square-foot project will be built in two phases. The first phase will include retail stores such as Best Buy, while a second phase, to be built later, would include a movie theater.