Redondo Beach Voters Back Waterfront Park

Redondo Beach residents have chosen green acres over greenbacks.

After years of debate, residents voted Tuesday to transform the city’s smoke-stacked waterfront into a 65-acre park.

The advisory measure, Proposition J, asked voters to choose between a park that would include wetlands and walking trails or a seaside development of 350 residential homes, 100,000 square feet of commercial space, a hotel and a 16-acre park.

The 76-acre tract is bounded by Herondo and Beryl streets, Catalina Avenue and Harbor Drive.

Unofficial election results showed 4,570 votes for Heart Park and 3,696 for the development.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Bill Brand, who has led the park effort. “We’ve been fighting this for three years.”

Discontent with the city’s increased traffic and density influenced the vote, said Councilman Chris Cagle, who supported the commercial-residential project.

“People are frustrated with how congested things are and they want open space to be a priority, and they want the city to give the park a chance,” Cagle said.

The questions now are how to acquire the land, 51 acres of which are owned by the AES power plant, and then how to pay for park development.

Resident Tom Conroy, who supported the residential and commercial development, said those are very large ifs.

“Show me the money,” Conroy said. “It all comes down to the dollars and cents.”

The plant’s contract with its fuel supplier, Williams Co., runs through 2013 and includes an option to extend the contract for an additional five years, said plant general manager C.J. Thompson.

Though Brand said it was premature to estimate the land’s value, funding could come from federal, state and private resources.

“No one knows what the industrial land will be worth in 2013,” Brand said.

A city-commissioned analysis by David Taussig and Associates of Newport Beach estimated the cost of buying the land and developing a park at more than $345 million.

Joe Rosato, a spokesman for the California State Parks program, said Wednesday that funding for state parks was scarce. Still, Brand said, supporters hoped to share in a possible future state bond measure to fund parks, like the $3-billion bond act recently introduced by state Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata).

But the other problem, Cagle said, was that parks “don’t generate any revenue.

“So to remove the revenue that we’re currently getting and converting it to just park, we’re going to lose a couple million from the general fund,” he said.

For now, supporters said, they would start working with the city to rezone the site.

Craig Shuman, a staff scientist with Heal the Bay, praised Tuesday’s vote.

“The citizens deemed water quality more important than tax dollars and development, and I think that’s a great thing,” he said.