The first meeting of the new fiscal year is a heavy one. Council will decide how to put the city's long-contested General Plan and Housing ElementA city's General Plan is its constitution for land use — the legally required blueprint that governs what can be built where. The Housing Element is the state-mandated chapter that plans for the city's share of regional housing need. overhaul in front of voters this November, award more than $3.5 million in design-build contracts for the Measure FP police and fire facilities, and name a new open-space park at Herondo Street. Behind closed doors, the city is negotiating with Nike over the Marina and Seaside Lagoon — and defending itself in a fresh housing lawsuit.
Items to watch
General Plan Update — and a possible November ballot measure
Staff is asking Council for two things. First, to direct that the latest Housing Element update be folded into the Article XXVIIArticle XXVII of the Redondo Beach City Charter requires a traffic-impact analysis and, in many cases, a public vote before major intensifications of land use. It is the mechanism residents added in 2008 to give voters a check on large developments. traffic analysis that accompanies the proposed General Plan changes. Second, to give direction on the scope of the Land Use Element and Zoning Ordinance modifications that would be considered for administrative approval by August 4, 2026 — and on the corresponding ballot measure that would go before voters at the November 2026 general election.
The stakes here are hard to overstate. Redondo Beach has spent years in conflict with the state over its Housing Element after a court ruling forced the city to plan for far more density than residents wanted. Tonight's discussion is where Council decides how much of that plan to put to a public vote versus approve administratively — a choice that runs directly into the city's own Article XXVII voter-approval rules.
Watch this item alongside the closed-session litigation below: Californians for Homeownership, Inc. v. City of Redondo Beach is a new lawsuit that keeps the housing fight very much alive.
Why it mattersThis is the most consequential item on the agenda. Council is being asked to lock in a timeline that puts a General Plan and land-use question on the November 2026 ballot — with an administrative approval deadline of August 4. The outcome shapes how much housing gets built, and where, for years.
Measure FP police and fire facilities — $3.57M in design-build contracts
Council will consider two progressive design-buildProgressive design-build is a project delivery method where a single contractor is hired early to handle both design and construction, collaborating with the owner to develop the design and price in phases before committing to a fixed construction cost. agreements with Swinerton Builders for Phase 1 of the Measure FP program. The first covers Fire Stations 1 and 2 at a cost not to exceed $1,664,815 through January 2027. The second covers the police facilities subproject at a cost not to exceed $1,906,592 through February 2027.
Measure FP was budgeted at roughly $92.9 million in new capital appropriations in the FY 2026-27 budget Council adopted last month. These design contracts are the first big drawdown — the point where the bond stops being a line item and starts becoming buildings.
Why it mattersThese are the first major construction contracts spending the Measure FP bond money voters approved. Two agreements with Swinerton Builders — $1.66M for Fire Stations 1 and 2, and $1.91M for the police facilities — kick off the design phase of the city's largest public-safety building program in a generation.
Naming the new Herondo open-space park
The open space sits at Herondo Street and Catalina Avenue, at the northern edge of the city near the Hermosa Beach line. Council will discuss possible names and may take action. Park-naming decisions tend to draw genuine public comment — if you have a preference, this is the item to speak on.
Why it mattersA rare feel-good item with real community interest. Council will discuss and possibly name the new open-space park at Herondo Street and Catalina Avenue — a decision residents on the north end have been waiting on.
Public hearing: Police and Fire Department user fees
Council will open a public hearing, take testimony, and vote on Resolution CC-2607-047 amending the Police Department user fees. The public-safety fee update is the next chapter in the broader user-fee rebalancing that ran through the budget process — where a cost study found many city fees recover only a fraction of what services actually cost to deliver.
Why it mattersA formal public hearing to raise the fees the Police and Fire departments charge for services. It follows the Community Development and Community Services fee overhaul Council took up in June — the city is systematically bringing its fee schedule closer to full cost recovery.
Parking hits your wallet twice
Two items on the consent calendar raise what drivers pay. Neither is flagged for a hearing, so unless a Council member pulls them, they pass in a single motion.
H.11 — Higher parking meter rates: First reading of Ordinance No. 3313-26, amending the municipal code section that sets parking meter hourly rates. This is the ordinance staff promised to bring back in July when Council approved the meter-rate increase through the budget — the change that raises meter rates citywide.
H.12 — Street-sweeping fines jump from $55 to $79: Resolution CC-2607-049 increases the civil penalty for parking during street-sweeping hours from $55 to $79 — a 44% increase on one of the most common tickets residents receive.
The Nike question
Nike surfaces twice on this agenda. On the consent calendar, H.10 approves a license agreement with Nike, Inc. for the Nike After Dark Run half marathon scheduled for October 24, 2026. That is the visible part.
The less visible part is in closed session: F.4 is a real-property negotiation with Nike over portions of the Seaside Lagoon and Redondo Beach Marina parking lot, plus a long list of public streets — Harbor Drive, Pacific Avenue, Catalina Avenue, Torrance Boulevard, Esplanade and more. The city's negotiators are City Manager Mike Witzanskyand Community Services Director Elizabeth Hause; Nike is represented by Englander Knabe & Allen. “Price and terms” are under negotiation. It is worth watching what a global brand's interest in the city's waterfront turns into.
Consent calendar — the notable items
Sixteen items sit on consentA batch of routine items voted on together in one motion. Any Council member or member of the public can pull an item for separate discussion., including accounts-payable and payroll demands. Beyond the parking and Nike items above, several are worth flagging:
H.7 — 43-unit condo project on PCH: Approval of Final Tract Map No. 84401 for a 43-unit residential condominium project at 122 and 126 N. Pacific Coast Highway and 208 Central Court — a concrete example of the housing that keeps arriving as the density debate plays out.
H.14 — $260,000 for homeless housing beds: A budget modification (requiring a 4/5 vote, Resolution CC-2607-046) appropriating $260,000 in South Bay Cities Council of Governments and county affordable-housing funds toward single-room-occupancy and motel beds.
H.16 — A new director-level position: Two resolutions reworking the city's org chart — creating a Waterfront and Community Services Director position and amending the Community Development Director class specification. Given the Nike negotiations above, a dedicated waterfront directorship is a signal of where the city's attention is going.
Also on consent: speed cushions on the 300 block of Avenue F (H.13), a citywide curb-ramp improvements project going out to bid (H.9), a business-license tax waiver for the Riviera Village Summer Festival (H.15), and a resolution proclaiming September 13 as “Open Water Swim Day” for the Swim the Avenues event (H.8).
Presentations
The meeting opens with two recognitions: D.1, the Mayor's commendation to the 2026 Redondo Beach South Bay Medal of Valor awardees, and D.2, a ceremonial presentation by Congressman Ted Lieu of a $250,000federal Community Project Funding check for the city's affordable Housing to Lease project.
Closed session
Four items in the 4:00 p.m. closed session before the open meeting:
Californians for Homeownership, Inc. v. City of Redondo Beach (Case 26STCP02197) — existing litigation, and the housing-law fight most directly tied to tonight's General Plan discussion. Mehta Mechanical Company v. City of Redondo Beach (Case 25TRCV00677) — existing litigation. An anticipated-litigation item tied to a June 16, 2026 letter from the firm Rand Paster & Nelson LLP. And the Nike real-property negotiation (F.4) described above.