In the second time in as many weeks, the owners of the last significantly-sized properties in Seal Beach that can be developed have taken action to try and secure permission for a plan they say may be the only feasible one for the site.
The 10.69 acres of vacant land between First Street and the San Gabriel River and Marina Drive and the city beach is the site of the former Los Angeles Department of Water and Power plant, which was demolished in the mid-1960s.
Bay City purchased the property from LADWP in 2003.
According to Edward Selich, project development manager for Bay City Partners, LLC, the property owners announced they intend to withdraw its current application for two possible projects.
The site’s current zoning calls for open space south of where Central Way intersects the property and a 150-room hotel north of the open space area.
“Constructing a 150-room hotel within that area would require a five-story structure approximately 60-to-75 feet in height,” Selich said.
“Nobody wants that,” Brian Kyle, one of the property’s owners, said recently.
Meanwhile, as the thorny questions of what could or should be built on the property start to rage, the city and Bay City Partners have been filing lawsuits against each other regarding the city’s attempt to use the eminent domain process to take parts of the property to improve the beach access road and bike trail along the Seal Beach side of the San Gabriel River.
Selich said Bay City submitted an amendment to the specific plan to create development regulations that would allow Bay City to preserve a large percentage of the site as open space and substantially reduce the intensity of development allowed in the current specific plan to be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
“The plan envisioned by Bay City was a low density luxury residential resort concept. It would have had residential villas, similar in size and scale to current old town area residences, and a small two-story inn. The remainder of the property would remain as open space available to the public,” Selich said.
Last fall, Bay City filed a second application for an alternative plan that would leave the DWP Specific Plan in place for the open space south of Central Way and change the zoning of the development area to single family homes with a 25 foot height limit.
“Further studies on a small inn, as well as the 150-room hotel have proven both concepts to be unfeasible,” Selich said. “Surrounding property owners have indicated that residential development similar in scale to existing old town residential is the preferred use for the development area.”
Selich said that comments at a recent meeting of the city’s DWP Advisory Committee show most prefer a 25-foot height limit.
“At the same meeting, a strong preference was expressed to keep all the land south of Central Way for Open Space,” Selich said. “With all this in mind Bay City now plans to withdraw the specific plan amendment and pursue only the alternative plan which would keep all the land south of Central Way as open space and reduce the intensity of the development area from a massive 150-room hotel to low density single family homes.
While the lawsuits rage over eminent domain, Bay City Partners has said it’s willing to donate the driveway and San Gabriel River Trail to the city. At no cost Bay City will dedicate additional open space to the city as part of the residential development.
“All of this is predicated upon approval for the residential development,” Selich said.
Selich said the latest proposal will allow the property owner and the city to move ahead and take a significant portion of the city and turn it from a vacant wasteland surrounded by an aesthetically unpleasant fence into beautiful open space with neighborhood friendly development.
Seal Beach City Councilman Charles Antos last week said he thinks the questions of beach access and bike path are separate from the property owners’ development plans. He said he believes it will take a much longer time for the overall project to go through the approval process than the beach access and bike trail improvements.
