The City of Redondo Beach has placed a 45-day ban on mixed-use developments, according to a report by the Daily Breeze. Pending a Sept. 19 meeting of the City Council, that moratorium could be extended to two years.

Though the move is largely in response to projects in South Redondo along Pacific Coast Highway, the Daily Breeze notes that this also takes community outcry about these developments into account. As Mayor Bill Brand told the Daily Breeze:

"Redondo does not have a housing shortage and the crisis we do have really is a traffic crisis and an on-again, off-again water crisis. And if we continue with a lot of this residential [development], soon we’ll have school overcrowding.”

Other voices have joined Brand’s opposition to larger mixed-use developments as a result of that final concern, in particular. But traffic levels in South Redondo Beach — which is anywhere from six to 10 miles away from major freeways like the Interstate 405 — are also a significant worry when discussing any new construction in the area. 

Rendering of the proposed South Bay Galleria / Courtesy of the City of Redondo Beach

What’s still to be determined is whether the moratorium will also include the proposed mixed-use replacement of the South Bay Galleria at Artesia Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard in North Redondo Beach. The mall is in the city’s regional commercial zone, which excludes it from the ban. However, District 1 Councilman Nils Nehrenheim proposed adding that area to the ban as well.

 Nehrenheim cited the city’s growing population mixed with declining job totals as a reason to avoid adding a large number of residences to Redondo Beach (as would be the case in the mixed-use development). However, as the Daily Breeze points out, adding the commercial zone to the moratorium will require a four-fifths vote of the council.