by Garth Meyer
The Redondo Beach city council approved Nuvis Landscape Architecture Feb. 7 to create designs for Seaside Lagoon. The contract is not to exceed $3,112,534, with construction to be finished by 2028.
“Five years, that’s a long time,” said District One City Councilman Todd Loewenstein.
City Manager Mike Witzansky noted that a final design should be agreed upon by the end of this year, followed by two to two and a half-years for permitting and environmental review. Construction (on sand) is estimated to take another year and a half.
Included in the project is a waterfront promenade/pedestrian and bikeway to extend from the Pier to Moonstone Park, at the end of Mole B, near the Lanakila Outrigger Club facility..
A Nuvis representative told the council Tuesday night they will present a dozen or so designs for Seaside Lagoon. Initial funding will come from a $10 million state grant the city received in 2021.
The project is the first of more than 40 listed in the King Harbor Amenities Plan, adopted by the council last October, the result of a year-long study with consultants SWA Group.
Features named by the public as desired at Seaside Lagoon include a lap pool and a great lawn.
Nuvis will look into two options for the project’s scope: a complete overhaul or a more limited remodeling.
“As much as this is a nice-to-have, this is a need-to-have,” said Witzansky, pointing out how the city is fined, on average $200,000 per year by the state water quality board for discharge from the Lagoon into the ocean.
“The state is not fining us, they’re fining themselves,” said City Councilman Nils Nehrenheim, pointing out that Seaside Lagoon is on state land. The fines are paid out of the city’s (state trust) tidelands fund.
Witzansky estimates a full reconstruction of Seaside Lagoon would cost more than $30 million.
Nuvis has worked on water infrastructure projects around the world. ER
