A Bid to Boot Events Off Beach

A move is afoot in Hermosa Beach that could spike professional volleyball tournaments, exorcise extreme sports competitions and foul plans for popular seaside festivities.

A tolerant policy toward such events will either be spared or swept away by the tide of public opinion on Nov. 6, when Hermosa Beach voters decide on a measure that would sharply restrict activities expected to draw more than 500 people. The initiative would regulate all activities within Hermosa Beach’s coastal zone, an area that includes nearly half of the square-mile city.

The proposed ordinance, the Coastal Conservation Act, would prohibit admission charges for “temporary beach events,” prevent most commercial beach sales and permanent advertising, and add numerous requirements for “event[s] or function[s] of limited duration.”

Authors of the initiative say that beach overuse and overcrowding threaten the coastal environment and detract from residents’ quality of life. Opponents and city officials say the measure would unfairly limit public access to beaches, threaten popular local events and sap the city of essential revenues.

Former Mayor Robert Essertier, who supports Measure F, said he is disturbed that commercialized beach events have become bigger and more frequent on summer weekends.

“It’s just a bunch of outsiders who want to exploit this beautiful resource,” Essertier said.

Temporary vendors reap the bulk of financial rewards from such functions, Essertier said, at the expense of local businesses.

City recreation supervisor Lisa Lynn said the city has collected $63,244 for three commercial events this year, including the EVP Tour Pro-Am Volleyball Tournament and a triathlon held by Michael Epstein Sports Productions.

The triathlon and volleyball tournament together drew about 1,700 spectators and participants, Lynn said.

The Mervyn’s Beach Bash, a multi-sport June festival featuring skateboarding, in-line skating, BMX biking and live music, donated an additional $40,000 to local causes, according to the city. But the crush of about 80,000 visitors who attended the weekend event provided impetus for more regulation of functions held in Hermosa Beach.

In a published argument opposing the initiative, Hermosa Beach Mayor John Bowler, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe and others called Measure F a “bureaucratic nightmare” that would “hinder or eliminate some of the city’s most enjoyable events.”

“We’re upset because the city has always been known and loved for its beaches,” Bowler said in an interview. “A lot of special events that we have there would be affected by it.”

Bowler said the measure is overly broad, and could affect not only commercial events, but also popular free activities such as the annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities and the Sand and Strand Run, now in its 50th year.

Critics of the measure also say the city, which owns its beaches, could lose local control of them to the Coastal Commission, a charge supporters dispute. “It’s just like the electricity crisis,” said Donley Falkenstien, a leader of Hermosans for Balanced Coastal Use, a group formed to support the measure.

“Deregulation means no rules, and no rules means chaos. Hermosa Beach has no rules, and that’s why we have chaos.”

Falkenstien, who led a successful 1997 fight to bar the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals from charging admission to tournaments in neighboring Manhattan Beach, said control of public beaches is being ceded to corporate interests.

The measure is one of three on the ballot in the Hermosa Beach municipal elections Nov. 6, when residents will elect three City Council members, vote on term limits for the council and consider repealing the utility tax.

Throughout the city, lawn signs and fliers for City Council candidates greatly outnumber those for or against Measure F. The ordinance didn’t appear to be a high priority for several people asked about the topic.

“Someone told me about it yesterday,” said Jill Kalafut, a Hermosa Beach resident for 15 years who was playing with her daughters, Bobbi, 1, and Jillian, 3, in the sand next to Hermosa Pier. She was leaning toward voting against Measure F.

“I’m not clear about what it would really do, but I think we should keep local control of the beaches,” Kalafut said.

A ballot measure similar to Measure F was defeated in March 2000 in Manhattan Beach.