The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 38 - September 20, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Classifieds............................4
Community Briefs...............3
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Film Review..........................6
Legals............................ 12,13
Pets......................................14
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.....................7-11
Sports....................................5
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
73˚/64˚
Saturday
Sunny
72˚/64˚
Sunday
Sunny
75˚/63˚
A Big Check from Chevron at
the Champions of Business Event
Chevron El Segundo Refinery General Manager Henry Kusch presented a grant check for $125,000 to the City of El Segundo during last Wednesday’s Champions of Business Celebration to help further
economic development. L-to-R: Economic Development Manager Barbara Voss; Councilmember Scot Nicol; Councilmember Dr. Brann; Mayor Pro Tem Carol Pirsztuk; Henry Kusch; Mayor Drew Boyles;
Councilmember Chris Pimentel; Chevron Policy, Government & Public Affairs Representative Lily Craig; and EDAC Chair Al Keahi. (Photo: Robert Cetl, City of El Segundo).
City Council Approves Smoky
Hollow Plan; Adopts New Budget
By Brian Simon
Many years in the making, the updated
Smoky Hollow Specific Plan is now approved
after the El Segundo City Council’s vote on
Tuesday night. With Mayor Drew Boyles
and Councilmember Scot Nicol recusing
themselves due to business conflicts, the
remaining three in the group unanimously
passed the plan after staff came back with
final tweaks to resolve issues brought up
last month.
First, the Medium Density Residential
(MDR) Overlay Zone will not be deleted
from the municipal code as previously recommended.
Champions of Business Event
Honors Buss, Local Innovators
By Brian Simon
A packed house filled the courts at
the UCLA Health Training Center last
Wednesday evening to recognize local
business leaders and honor Los Angeles
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. The fifth annual
Champions of Business Celebration served
as another reminder of El Segundo’s growth
in recent years as a major commercial hub
in the Southland.
Economic Development Manager Barbara
Voss provided an overview of the City of
El Segundo’s recent achievements, which
included bringing in 200 new businesses
over the past two years and seeing the office
vacancy rate drop below 10 percent for
the first time since 2014. Over this period,
Voss noted, El Segundo has become one of
the most sought-after commercial real estate
markets in the Los Angeles region. She also
mentioned that a number of companies, including
the event-hosting Lakers, expanded
their local footprint. Voss additionally spoke
of the Smoky Hollow plan that will attract
more creative and tech firms here, the Down-
town El Segundo beautification program, and
a new destination website about to launch.
Economic Development Advisory Council
(EDAC) Chair Al Keahi pointed to the
“change in growth” here, but stressed that
the city “still retains an inherent team spirit”
that has been in place since the founding of
the community. He referred to El Segundo
See Champions of Business, page 15
Planning staff will in the coming
weeks clean up language ambiguities and
adjust the MDR to match the R-3 zone. They
will also look at the idea of live-work spaces
in Smoky Hollow in the future.
Rather than creating a parking lane on El
Segundo Boulevard all the way to Pacific
Coast Highway as originally proposed, staff
and the Public Works Department will implement
a pilot program for a few blocks on the
west side of Smoky Hollow. This will entail
temporarily narrowing three of the four lanes
(as a way to slow traffic) and putting spaces
on the north side of the street adjacent to
Downtown El Segundo. The southernmost
eastbound lane will remain as is to accommodate
trucks exiting Chevron. Planning
Manager Gregg McClain called traffic speed
the “number one problem,” but said that addressing
it will result in better lines of sight
– particularly at the hill near Center Street.
The building height limit in the specific
plan remains at 35 feet, but can increase to
50 feet in exchange for an applicant providing
a community benefit (subject to Planning
Commission and City Council review). The
old plan does already allow the 50-foot max
in the eastern half of Smoky Hollow through
lot consolidation. The Council agreed to not
put a three-story restriction on buildings and
also opted not to limit additional height capability
to just the east side. “Everyone wants
high ceilings now,” McClain explained. A
Smoky Hollow property owner echoed the
sentiment in telling the Council that “raising
the height allows us to do so much more.”
Another applicant needs the 50 feet in order
to build a 400-car parking garage that is “days
away from starting” construction.
Meanwhile, the Council also received a list
of potential community benefits that developers
can offer. Among the ideas are pocket parks,
surplus parking, public art, and landscape/
sidewalk/intersection improvements.
In addition to adopting the specific plan,
the Council approved the parking in-lieu fee
program for Smoky Hollow. Cost per space:
Just under $28,000.
See City Council, page 13