The first meeting of the Rossmoor Community Service District’s new Shops at Rossmoor Committee will be held Tuesday, Jan. 10, an hour before the regular Rossmoor board meeting.
The committee was created at the Tuesday, Dec. 13 Rossmoor board meeting, even though the unincorporated community of Rossmoor has no legal jurisdiction over the Seal Beach shopping Center. General Manager Henry Taboada pointed that fact out in his staff report to the board.
It was standing room only at the RCSD board meeting of Dec. 13, according to a press release issued by Elizabeth Deering, administrative assistant to the Rossmoor District.
The Deering press release implied that residents had come to the meeting because of
Item H-2, a citizen’s request to discuss various planned development at the Shops at Rossmoor in Seal Beach.
Long time Rossmoor resident Brenda Gorman asked that the matter be discussed by the Board as a means of informing the public about developments underway at the Shops at Rossmoor shopping center in Seal Beach and their impacts on the quality of life for Rossmoor residents. Gorman and other Rossmoor residents were reportedly concerned about the increased traffic congestion on Seal Beach Boulevard and St. Cloud Drive, and the overall negative impact of the proposed new construction rumored to be low income housing, a Toys R Us, Babies R Us, In-N-Out Burger, Staples and Rite-Aid.
So far, no representative of Shops at Rossmoor has issued a public statement about any new businesses coming into the shopping center.
On Monday, Oct. 10, the Seal Beach City Council approved a draft of the city’s housing element. That draft included designating the Shops at Rossmoor as a potential place for low income housing.
The city’s housing element does not mean the city has the legal authority to force the shopping center’s owners to build low income housing there,
According to Councilman Gary Miller, the city did not provide notice of meetings of the Seal Beach ad hoc committee concerning the housing element. Jon Regnier, a member of the Ad Hoc General Plan/Local Coastal Plan Citizens Advisory Committee, has said there was public notice.
Some members of the Rossmoor Park Owners Association have expressed concern that building low income housing in the center would lower property values in the area.
Councilman Miller attended the Dec. 13 Rossmoor Community Services District meeting. Miller advised Rossmoor residents to attend Seal Beach City Council meetings in January and February.
The first meeting of the Shops at Rossmoor Ad Hoc Committee will be televised by Time Warner.
