By Quinn Krophschot
Staff Writer
During the Hermosa Beach City Council meeting on April 23, residents voiced their concerns about a measure that could allow the oil company E&B Natural Resources to construct an oil well and drill in central Hermosa Beach.
In the public comments portion of the meeting, Hermosa Beach resident and anti-oil activist Kevin Sousa spoke about how the oil drilling may violate many city codes. Among the city codes he mentioned was 10.24.040, which states that trucks exceeding three tons cannot drive on zones not designated for trucks.
“We don’t need 3,500 trucks on Pier Avenue, and we don’t want 8,000 barrels of oil being refined on city grounds,” Sousa said at the meeting.
Lawyer Stacey Armato believes that the possible drilling itself is not the only issue regarding the oil proposal in the city.
“The city manager opted to exclude a letter [regarding drilling] from the agenda,” Armato said before the meeting. “This is a possible Brown Act violation, but regardless, definitely not their normal practice.”
Hermosa Beach City Manager Tom Bakaly did not express concern over a possible Brown Act violation.
“In past meetings, we added the letter to the Board agenda,” Bakaly said. “When we received another identical letter, we decided to pass it out instead. In the future, we will put all community letters concerning the oil drilling on the agenda.”
Currently, the city is in the process of hiring an environmental consultant to conduct the environmental report on the possible drilling. The report is estimated to be completed by July.
“The oil issue is an enormous issue facing Hermosa beach and its citizens,” Hermosa Beach Mayor Patrick Bobko said. “It’s the responsibility of the South Bay to decide if they want drilling in this city.”
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