Seniors’ moment

Dear ER:

The Beach Cities Health District, instead of being intent on real estate and money to be made or lost there, would do well to focus on what’s been called the Village Movement for seniors. This has been adopted in other parts of the world to tremendous success. Neighborhood organizations are formed and homeowners pay yearly dues to hire a small staff that helps with everything from in-home help, to shopping for the elderly to organizing social activities. Such a plan in the South Bay would be just what BCHD should coordinate. It would help the elderly maintain connections they’ve made over a lifetime in their own neighborhoods, and still receive services, without having to move into assisted living.

The reduction in size of the Beach Cities Health District’s Health Campus from 420 units to 220 is still outside of the public intent of what is allowed on the site, which is zoned P-CF (Public-Community Facility) (“BCHD Healthy Campus reduces footprint, 200 fewer units,” ER June 18, 2020). What in the first version looked like the Mothership from the 1970s movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” remains in the new plan, but tilted on its side — six stories high, sticking up like an architectural middle finger to the surrounding residential neighborhoods. This proposal should be on an RH zone–residential high density. While the folks at BCHD are marching forward with their Draft EIR believing their proposal is allowed outright on this site, it is not. RCFEs (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly) are not allowed without the Redondo Beach City Council and the Redondo Beach Planning Commission’s approval. This is why it’s important that we let our Redondo representatives know why they must not approve this proposal. Since it’s impacting Torrance neighborhoods too, Torrance residents should contact their representatives, and insist they work with Redondo reps. 

Lara Duke

Redondo Beach