RDA Vote On North Village EIR Won't Be Appealable To City Council...And RDA Could Demolish Atlantic Theater With Permit From City Staff After EIR Certified, City Att'y Office Says
(Oct. 22, 2009) -- A decision by LB's non-elected Redevelopment Agency board on whether to certify a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the North Village Project -- which as proposed would demolish the Atlantic Ave. Theater occupying part of the site -- won't be appealable to LB's the elected LB City Council...and the RDA (which owns the Theater) could demolish it with a permit obtainable from city staff after the EIR is certified, LB's City Attorney's office has told LBReport.com.
Photo source: North Village Center draft EIR
Responding to an emailed request from LBReport.com on procedural aspects of this story, Assistant City Attorney Heather Mahood said that if the RDA certifies the EIR, there is no appeal to the City Council...citing CA Public Resources Code Section 21151 governing appeals of EIR approvals:
"§ 21151. Projects having significant effect on environment
...(c) If a nonelected decision-making body of a local lead agency certifies an environmental impact report, approves a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration, or determines that a project is not subject to this division, that certification, approval, or determination may be appealed to the agency's elected decision-making body, if any.
Assistant City Attorney Mahood notes, "The Redevelopment Agency, unlike the Harbor Board and the Planning Commission, is not a decision-making body of the City. It is a separate legal entity from the City. Therefore, there would be no appeal to the City Council of the Redevelopment Agency Board's action."
[Comment: As LBReport.com has separately written in other contexts, the Redevelopment Agency [in LB and elsewhere] is a separate layer of government empowered to act pursuant to state law, although its staff and governing board take actions locally].
Our other immediate questions:
What's the earliest procedural point at which the RDA could demolish the Atlantic Ave. Theater and what voted actions or permits would be needed to begin demolition? "It could take place after the certification of the EIR and the issuance of a demolition permit. Demolition permits are issued by staff and do not go before the Planning Commission," Assistant City Attorney Mahood said.
Since the draft EIR says [paraphrase] demolishing the Theater would create significant impacts that can't be completely mitigated...and reuse with somewhat smaller sq. footage is the environmentally superior alternative. What actions and by whom (RDA board? City Council?) would be involved to require reuse instead of demolition? "Since the Redevelopment Agency owns the property, the decision is up to the [RDA] Board. If they wished to require re-use, they would insert the requirement for reuse into any Disposition and Development Agreement entered into with a developer for the site."
The draft EIR acknowledges that the Theater (completed May 1942), which has sat closed and unused for years, is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and could be preserved and reused with a relatively small reduction in commercial/retail space (36,000 sq ft. to 30,000 sq. ft)...and calls this the superior environmental alternative.
The project as proposed includes up to 61 units of multi-family housing in a mix of row houses, courtyard units, and units built atop ground floor non-residential space; up to 36,000 sq. ft of commercial retail space, including restaurant space, oriented primarily toward Atlantic Avenue; and a public library and community center totaling approximately 30,000 square feet on the eastern side of Atlantic Ave...the side on which the Theater is.
The EIR indicates that mitigation for demolishing the Theater (as proposed in the project as submitted) would consist basically of cataloging and documenting the Theater's historic aspects for future reference and display.
