TITLE
Recommendation to request the Board of Harbor Commissioners to adopt the Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project Mitigation Measures.
DISCUSSION
The City Council held a public hearing on May 12, 2009 to consider the appeal of the Port of Long Beach's (POLB) certification of the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR). In a memorandum to the City Council and reiterated at the hearing, the City Attorney opined, "Since the Long Beach Charter provides the Board [of Harbor Commissioners] has final decision-making authority over the project and related mitigation measures, the City Council does not have the legal authority to approve or reject the project or make any changes to the project or the mitigation measures." The duty ofthe City Council was limited to the consideration of the adequacy of the EIR.
At the hearing, we had expressed our intent to bring for the City Council's consideration a request for the Port of Long Beach's to adopt recommendations that would strengthen the Port's efforts to mitigate the impacts of the proposed project:
1. Adopt the recommendations for community participation and involvement outlined in the POLB commissioned "A White Paper on Environmental Justice: Opportunities on Port of Long Beach Projects" (White Paper) particularly the section "Public Participation Principles" which includes a recommendation on "Empowering the Public placing the final decision making in the hands of the public".
2. Increase the amount of grant funds available for the community mitigation measures under the Guidelines for Long Beach Grant Programs to include homes and related impacted community assets and to prepare an off-port impact study to identify appropriate projects.
3. Define membership in a community advisory committee to include member(s) from Zone 1 of the impacted areas and develop a formal roll for the impacted communities consistent with the principles of "meaningful involvement" under ...
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