Local development firm Studebaker, LLC. has re-submitted application papers for a permit to build near the Los Cerritos Wetlands, nearly four months after dropping appeals against a judge’s ruling that blocked a similar proposal. The firm submitted the application to Long Beach City Hall on Monday, as confirmed by spokesman Mike Murchison.
Studebaker, LLC. dropped the original appeal on July 31 after a judge twice rejected the Environmental Impact Report submitted by the company. An August 1 statement, however, hinted that the development firm would continue to pursue the plans. Monday, the first steps were taken.
“There were deficiencies in the EIR, but the door was left open for us to come back once those deficiencies were taken care of,” Murchison said, Wednesday afternoon. “We’re waiting for the city to give us the go-ahead for the EIR process.”
The story was originally reported by The District Weekly’s Dave Wielenga in this piece, and has been updated as new information is revealed.
The City approved the original plan back in 2004, and will have to go through the same process with a proposal nearly identical to the one that was soundly rejected by a Superior Court judge just months ago. There is no certain time period for the Council’s decision.
An article in today’s Press-Telegram by Paul Eakins and Joe Segura explores the plan in greater detail.
“It’s pretty much the same site plan that Home Depot submitted,” said Derek Burnham, planning officer for the city.
The proposed project would include a 102,513 square-foot home-improvement store, a 6,000 square-foot restaurant, a 2,000 square-foot outdoor eating area and a 12,000 square-foot retail pad. No tenant is identified in the project, Burnham said.
Though the original plan was to build a Home Depot home improvement center, Murchison says that is not the idea as of now.
“It is not going to be a Home Depot,” he said. “This is just to allow us to develop the property into a retail-type center. Right now we’re looking at cleaning up the EIR.”
Environmentalist groups strongly opposed the first proposal’s EIR, which was also ridiculed by Superior Court Judge John Torribio. Murchison is optimistic about the project this time around.
“We’ve complied with everything the judge has asked us to do,” Murchison said. “It’s a property that we believe the majority of residents would like to see developed.”
As the plan progresses, the development team plans on holding public meetings to gauge community response. Murchison says that such meetings were influential in developing the original proposal.
“We conducted community outreach meetings and visited neighborhood organizations to elicit support, and questions and comments about what we’re trying to do.”
One reason the original proposal was thrown out in July was a lack of public input, as ruled by Judge Torribio.
Calls and e-mails to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust, which filed a lawsuit against the original development plan, were not immediately returned.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor