Environmental Report

The short answer to the question, "Did the City Council make the right decision on approving the Poseidon environmental report," is no. This is why. First and foremost, the environmental report still did not show with any degree of certitude what the long-term environmental implications are in running the plant. Given that in this city we have beach recreational use, a hospitality industry and marine life, it seems to me that for those reasons alone it should have been refused.

Supporters of the Poseidon desalination plant scored a major victory Tuesday night when the Huntington Beach City Council narrowly approved an environmental report on the project during a marathon meeting at City Hall. Just before 3:30 a.m., the council voted 4-3 to certify the environmental impact report on the proposed $250-million desalination facility to be built behind the AES plant on Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street. The plant is said to be capable of creating 50 million gallons of drinking water per day from the sea. "This is by no means a done deal," Councilman Don Hansen said, arguing that the project must still go through a permitting process more rigorous than Tuesday's hearing.

When members of the City Council on Tuesday ponder whether to approve the environmental report for the Poseidon desalination plant, one point should be foremost in their minds: Will Huntington Beach residents truly benefit from this water treatment facility? The debate promises to be dramatic and complicated, though what the council actually is deciding is fairly straight forward: Does the environmental report adequately address the proposal's many affects on the community and its surroundings?

Fred Ortega The City Council, acting as the Glendale Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority, has agreed to incorporate a traffic study into a newly commissioned environmental report on the effects of the downtown specific plan. The council had initially requested that the traffic report be prepared by city staff members before the environmental-impact report. "Conducting the traffic study first would have delayed the preparation of the EIR [environmental-impact report]

Josh Kleinbaum With the future of the Americana at Brand hanging in the balance Wednesday, a Superior Court judge let the suspense linger. Judge Robert O'Brien listened to arguments in a lawsuit challenging the city of Glendale's approvals for the controversial proposed shopping center but did not make a decision. Instead, as the Americana's roller-coaster ride reached another peak, O'Brien simply said, "I'll see you when I see you." City officials expect the $264.

Josh Kleinbaum A Superior Court judge will consider today the fate of a controversial $264.2-million shopping project in downtown Glendale. Attorneys for General Growth Properties, owner of the Glendale Galleria, will ask Judge Robert O'Brien to overturn the city's approval of the Americana at Brand. General Growth contends that the city's environmental report was inadequate and the city's approvals for the project were illegal. The city denies both allegations.

Josh Kleinbaum Exactly three weeks before city residents vote on a controversial retail and residential development in downtown Glendale, the city's Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday approved more than $550,000 to defend the project in court after the election. The agency, made up of members of the City Council, approved an additional $550,000 for Morrison and Foerster, a law firm defending the project's environmental approvals in Superior Court. The increase brings the city's total contract with Morrison and Foerster for the Americana at Brand project to $1 million.

Josh Kleinbaum Five months after first criticizing the environmental impact report for the Americana at Brand, opponents of the retail and residential project say they have found a pattern of carelessness in the review. Opponents of the project, which will be subject of a citywide vote Sept. 14, say that criticism levied by the county's planning department at Impact Sciences, which performed the review, mirrors their accusations. Daryl Koutnik, supervising regional planner for the county, said that Impact Science's biological unit performed unsatisfactory work in two reports, including inaccurate species identification and poorly timed surveys.

Josh Kleinbaum Business and property owners on the site of the proposed Americana at Brand have sued the city, echoing claims in another lawsuit that a report on the project violates California law. Big 5 Sporting Goods, which has a store at 126 S. Central Ave., and Better Foods Land Investment Co., which owns the property at 126 and 130 S. Central Ave., filed lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court before a...

Josh Kleinbaum With a lawsuit in one hand and a potential referendum in the other, General Growth Properties has leverage for the first time in its 18-month involvement in Glendale's Town Center debate. But the Glendale Galleria owners have nine days to take advantage of it. General Growth sued the city Monday, challenging the approvals and the environmental impact report for the 15.5-acre Americana at Brand, a proposed retail and residential project in downtown Glendale.