Earlier this week (June 13), the group filed suit in L.A. County Superior Court challenging a City Council majority's May 16, 2017 voted action that certified an Environmental Impact Report for the Belmont Beach Pool and Aquatic Center. CARP is represented in the action by attorney Doug Carstens of Chatten-Brown & Carstens, a law firm experienced in environmental litigation.

In addition, CARP is simultaneously appealing the Council's approval of a Coastal Development Permit for the project, joining in appeals of that action filed by the El Dorado Audubon Society; Long Beach Citizens for Fair Development, Inc.; Long Beach Area Peace Network; Melinda Cotton; Channel Law Group, LLP; James Hines; Gordana Kajer; Jeff Miller; and Susan K. Miller) Significantly, their appeals have now been joined by appeals submitted by Coastal Commissioners Dayna Bochco and Effie Turnbull-Sanders (respectively the Coastal Commission's current chair and vice chair.) [A knowledgeable source tells LBREPORT.com that historically, it's not unusual for Coastal Commission chairs and vice chairs to join in appeals that Coastal Commission staff considers significant.]

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Before filing its court action and Coastal Commission appeal, CARP members came to the City Council (to appeal approvals of the project by LB's Mayor-chosen, Council-approved Planning Commission) and described in detail matters they alleged were flawed in City Hall's draft EIR and Coastal Development Permit approval process. During the hearing, Councilman Roberto Uranga, who is also a Coastal Commission member, stated that he doubted the Coastal Commission would approve the project in its current form. Councilman Uranga opined that the Coastal Comm'n will likely insist on possibly significant changes including to the city-sought height, because (Uranga said) the city sought height could set a precedent for future projects along the coast statewide. [LBREPORT.com coverage here.]

The Council went on to vote 6-2 (Uranga and Gonzalez dissenting, Pearce absent but indicating she would have voted "no") to approve the EIR and Coastal Development Permit. Following the vote, 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price and Mayor Robert Garcia both issued statements praising the Council majority's approval of the project [their statements quoted verbatim in an LBREPORT.com editorial at this link.]

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In a release, CARP says its mission is "to ensure local land use and development proposals provide meaningful opportunity for public participation and maximum benefits for the public." CARP's president, Joe Weinstein, PhD, said in the release: "We support the City’s effort to provide more swimming pools for the public, and even a new competitive swimming venue. But the City didn't adequately inform the public of all the adverse impacts of building the facility on the beach site, and utterly failed to identify and consider superior sites in other parts of the City."

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After LB coastal protection advocate Gordana Kajer independently filed her Coastal Commission appeal and before CARP filed its legal action challenging the EIR, supporters of the Belmont Pool project stated on their Facebook page ("Rebuild Belmont Plaza Olympics Pool"):

Here we go again! Although the City Council denied the appeals of 6 opponents, and approved the E.I.R., one of the opponents has filed an appeal of that decision to the California Coastal Commission. No details were given in the letter from Coastal, and no hearing date has yet been set.

Ya gotta love how some of the opponents talk about the probability of increased costs for the project, but don't appreciate the irony of how their unceasing delay tactics are driving up the project costs.

Reached for comment, Ms. Kajer told LBREPORT.com:

I applaud the decision by Ann Cantrell, Joe Weinstein and the CARP Board of Directors in this legal challenge to the Belmont Pool EIR.

CARP has joined other Long Beach groups and residents (including me) in appealing the City's Coastal Development Permit to the California Coastal Commission which we hope to see decided by the end of this year, but this CEQA lawsuit is a much greater effort.

No one wins when residents have to make a tough choice to spend their time and treasure for attorneys skilled in CEQA and EIRs to represent them, and for their concerns to be heard. I hope CARP's effort sends a message to Long Beach City Council that citizen advocates are prepared to fight for what they believe is important to Long Beach and to the quality of life in this community.

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CARP's EIR legal action alleges inadequate analyses of impacts from foreseeable sea level rise, visual and aesthetic degradation, violations of height-limit ordinances, and lack of traffic and biological studies. The City has justified its limited scope of alternatives by contending the project must be paid for with "Tidelands Funds" (restricted to funding shoreline uses)...but opponents point out that Tidelands Fund can't fully pay for the pool's predicted $103+ million cost if built in the site chosen by the City: next to beach sand, on land subject to liquefaction and sea-level rise with seismic issues that doomed the City's previous (now demolished) taxpayer-built pool. Some taxpayers, and groups including Surfrider, LB Area Peace Network and El Dorado Audubon, argue the City should have considered other downtown, tidelands or inland locations that would be less costly and closer to the public's need for more recreational amenities.

CARP co-founder and longtime LB shoreline community advocate Melinda Cotton said in CARP's release: "It's ironic for the City to build a major new project in harm’s way from sea level rise when that funding will be needed to protect the current residents' and businesses properties.

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While the court considers CARP's legal challenge to the EIR, the Coastal Commission will review the appeals filed by CARP and others to the City Council approved Coastal Development Permit. During the EIR public comment period, Coastal Commission staff commented on what it called inadequacies in the draft EIR and reiterated its concerns in a letter to the City Council shortly before the Council's May 16, 2017 hearing.

Ann Cantrell, a CARP founding member and CARP Board member, noted in the group's release: "The concerns raised by the Coastal Commission staff about inadequate analysis of sea level rise and impaired coastal views were nearly identical to concerns CARP expressed at the hearing." She adds: "We are disappointed the City didn't choose to consider alternatives which would have provided more benefits for the public and avoided all these challenges. But it is our mission to ensure the City follows the rules, and we are confident both the court and the Coastal Commission will agree the City failed to do that."