The Seal Beach City Council unanimously approved a plan to acquire private property in order to lower the potential cost of a proposed storm drain improvement project at the agency’s Monday, June 27. Councilman Gary Miller said he supported the idea, but wanted staff to contact residents prior to taking action.
A staff report identified the cost of the storm drain project without purchasing a property at $8.2 million. The cost of the project after buying property: $1 million.
That same night, the Redevelopment Agency received end-of-fiscal year amendments that included an unexpected $640,000 in legal fees that grew out of litigation over property owned by Bay City Partners.
Public Works Director Sean Crumby presented the storm drain proposal to the council as part of an update to the city wide storm drain program.
According to Crumby’s staff report, there are undersized storm drain lines between private homes across Lampson Avenue to the Old Ranch Golf Course.
“Upsizing of these lines will be extremely difficult due to the proximity of housing foundations and have a severe construction impact to those residents,” Crumby wrote.
“There are 10 properties that lie on the northern side of Ironwood Avenue between Guava Avenue and Elder Avenue. Should one of those homes be acquired by the city, an upsized storm drain can be constructed for a significantly lower cost than the $8.2 million within the Master Plan of Drainage,” Crumby wrote. “It is likely that this project can be constructed at a cost of under $1 million.”
Miller said he would like to review the option in more detail before purchasing property.
Councilwoman Ellery Deaton said it sounded like a good idea.
Miller said he recommended allocating the money, but not spending it until city staff meet with residents of the neighborhood.
Bay City settlement
The cost of Bay City Partners litigation came up during the Redevelopment Agency meeting. The Seal Beach RDA is made up of the members of the City Council.
According to a staff report by Robbeyn Bird, director of Administrative Services, the Redevelopment Agency Fund spent $640,000 more in attorney fees than were budgeted in the fiscal year that ended on Thursday, June 30.
The Bird report said the extra fees were “almost entirely due to litigation between the city and Bay City Partners.”
The two lawsuits included an eminent domain action filed by the city to acquire land for the stated purpose of ensuring access to a sewer line. That was the first of the two Bay City lawsuits related to the property that used to belong to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The second lawsuit was filed by Bay City Partners, under the California Environmental Quality Act, to challenge the description of the San Gabrielle River Bike Trail improvement project. Part of the bike trail crosses land owned by Bay City Partners.
The original description of the bike trail project did not include that information.
The two lawsuits led to a controversial settlement between the city and the land owners.
Part of that settlement, according to the Bird report, included a $900,000 increase in the Property Acquisition account. That figure did not include the legal fees to the city attorney.
However, City Attorney Quinn Barrow said that the additional legal fees also included the ARCO decontamination project in Seal Beach’s Bridgeport neighborhood. Barrow said that, to date, ARCO has reimbursed the city for the cost of professional services but not legal fees.
Deaton asked what was the cost of the Bay City Partners litigation in legal fees.
Barrow said the cost was $564,000, plus more than $100,000 in professional services.
Miller said that at the time of the settlement, the case was a month away from going to trial. He said the city attorney had to have experts ready to go.
Deaton suggested that Barrow’s law firm provide the city with cost information about potential litigation.
Barrow said that was a good idea.
