By Carol Churchill
There are close to 30 reports contained in the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Lampson Property. Many of these reports were prepared by consultants hired by Lampson LLC, the property developer, not by independent consultants hired by the City of Los Alamitos.
Before 2020, the 12 acre site now known as Lampson Park Place was used by the federal government as an educational site. It bordered the Joint Forces Training Base, which is a military airport, so it was NOT zoned for housing. Placing homes next to commercial and military airports is not normal. Noise, vibrations, crash risks, air pollution, hearing loss, lack of ability to use outdoor spaces during high use times are all considered public health and safety problems. A series of studies was conducted by federal commissions setting out the reasons that military airports are even more subject to safety risks than commercial airports. Converting the 12 acre site into housing raises all kinds of environmental and public safety issues. Balancing public welfare against developer profit is the fundamental duty of your elected officials. Conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure of critical data and financial interests are what you need to consider in making Comments to the DEIR presented by the City of Los Alamitos, but created by consultants hired by the owners of the 12 acre site.
The federal General Services Administration (GSA) declared the WestEd/Lampson 12 acres was “surplus property”. After conducting a hazardous materials contamination inspection and drafting a bidding package, the GSA put the Lampson site up for sale to the highest bidder in June 2021. The auction was conducted on-line with numbered bidding paddles, the goal being to keep the bidders anonymous and secure a fair auction.
Los Alamitos designated Planning Department employee Tom Oliver as zoning contact at Los Alamitos City Hall in the Bidding Package published by the GSA. Bidders had to contact Tom Oliver to determine what they could use the Lampson property for. Lampson was NOT zoned for residential development because of its proximity to the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB), a military airport.
Tom Oliver worked as a staff member for Les Johnson, the temporary city manager in Los Alamitos. Les Johnson “retired” from Los Alamitos around January 2020.
Immediately upon Les Johnson’s “retirement” from Los Alamitos, Johnson went to work in Seal Beach. Johnson “retired again” from Seal Beach around November 2021. Les Johnson then went to work for T&B Planning around December 2021, which was when the Lampson escrow closed. The 12 acres was purchased by Lampson Park Place LLC; 4 partners are listed in corporate documents.
T&B Planning and Les Johnson worked for Lampson Park Place, the purchasers of the 12 acre site. T&B Planning and Johnson prepared the Lampson EIR Scoping Session in October 2022, and obtained rezoning of Lampson for 20 housing units per acre; and challenged the finding by the Airport Land Use Commission and the California Department of Transportation – Division of Aeronautics that the 12 acres was unsuitable for residential development.
Public records from Seal Beach revealed communications between Les Johnson and the future purchaser of the 12 acre site before the bidding began.
The GSA bidding process ran from June 2021 until September 2021. While Les Johnson was working in Seal Beach, he texted Tom Oliver in Los Alamitos advising his friend and former staff member that “George Voigt” had won the bid on Lampson in September 2021, and Voigt’s financial partner was a private equity firm.
In November 2021, Tom Oliver, wrote a letter to the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) stating that the “City” of Los Alamitos “intended” to make a negative environmental declaration for the Lampson Project.
ALUC responded by advising Tom Oliver that ALUC was under a legal obligation to review any development plans for Lampson under the Airport Land Use Plan for the Joint Forces Training Base. According to State Law, ALUC’s duty was to determine if the housing development plans would negatively impact public safety and the operation of the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB).
The November 2021 letter declaring the City’s environmental position on Lampson was significant to success of the Lampson project because the City had to change the non- residential zoning to allow houses to be built along the border of the JFTB. If ALUC did not approve of the plan for public safety reason, the property would have to be put to another, possibly less profitable, use.
Even before escrow closed on the 12 acre site, Oliver had taken a position on the environmental impacts of rezoning the property. The November 2021 Letter provided lenders with a “governmental” assurance that the Los Alamitos City would NOT be imposing any environmental mitigation measures on the purchaser, Lampson LLC. Basically this was the “green light” the purchasers needed to obtain additional funding to close escrow 1 month later, December 2021.
Lampson secured a “bridge loan” of almost $12 Million to fund the close of escrow in December 2021.
Oliver proceeded with amending the City’s zoning ordinance to match Lampson’s building plans: paseo, stoops, and other specialty zoning provisions that were exclusive for Lampson housing. Lampson’s Plans were filed with Los Alamitos in April/May 2022, but were not available for public inspection.
A Public Records request forced disclosure that a Lampson’s partner submitted the “Property Owner Certification and Agent Form” naming Les Johnson, who was working for T&B Planning, as Lampson’s agent with Johnson’s former subordinate, Tom Oliver, in the Los Alamitos Planning Department.
Tom Oliver received hundreds of opposition Comments addressing environmental issues and opposition to Lampson proposal – including the use of Lampson property for housing, after a Notice of EIR was published in a local newspaper in October 2022.
The Los Alamitos City Council did NOT hold a public hearing to adopt the Environmental Negative Declaration until February 2023. There was a huge public outcry at the February 2023 City Council Meeting. People piled out of the doors and on to the patio. The hundreds of opposition letters sent to Tom Oliver at Los Alamitos in November 2022 were NOT provided to the City Council (February 2023) or Planning Commission (December 2023) as part of their agenda packages. This prevented the Commission and Council from having full knowledge of the opposition within the community. No MITIGATION MEASURES were proposed to address the public’s concerns, and a majority of the Council (Nefulda, Doby, Hassebrink) refused the public requests for a community forum before voting.
After February 2023, the City Staff repeatedly sought to convince council members to overrule ALUC’s safety hazard findings, allowing unsafe housing development to proceed. The overrule of ALUC occurred in late 2023 with a 4-1 vote. Overruling the ALUC finding, meant that only the City staff would decide mitigation measures after reviewing an Environmental Impact Report. This is where the conflicts of interest are notable. Many of the reports contained in the Draft Environmental Impact Report were secured NOT BY THE CITY in the interest of its residents, BUT were prepared by consultants employed by the developers.
As a result of the Council’s vote to overrule the Airport Land Use Commission and the Department of Transportation public safety findings, the safety burden was shifted to BUYERS and occupants of the Lampson project. The City Attorney opined that the City would not be liable in the event of an emergency crash because the City has what is known as “sovereign immunity” or one possessing supreme political power.
“Cumulative Impacts” from Lampson and Old Ranch Country Club are why as residents of Los Alamitos and Rossmoor and Seal Beach, and other neighborhood cities should submit Comments on the Draft EIR, and ask that all conflicts of interests be disclosed, and unbiased consultants are employed to prepare MITIGATION reports that contain adequate measures to protect your public safety and the quality of life you now enjoy.
My analysis was compiled from public records obtained by FOIA and Public Records request made to federal, state, county and local municipalities and recorded documents available from the Orange County Registrar-Recorder. The opinions expressed in this email are that of the author.
Carol Churchill is an attorney and a resident of Rossmoor.
