By Kyra Williams
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach City Council has been working with the developer, JLL, for about a year to come up with a plan for renovating the Manhattan Beach Village Mall. The council unanimously approved the developer’s request to begin nighttime construction May 1.
The city and developer have been working on a plan that takes into consideration the interests of the mall developers as well catering to citizen’s needs, Manhattan Beach Council Member Wayne Powell said.
Photos: JLL begins construction on the Manhattan Village Mall in Manhattan Beach on May 1.
“I think the night time construction is starting so that citizens can feel relaxed while shopping and aren’t bothered by the construction,” Freshman Marissa Hageman said. “This can prevent confusion and accidents during the day when more people are out as opposed to the few night time shoppers.”
The council and the developer decided to construct a 16-foot sound-blocking wall which will be built at the back of the mall, and an eight-foot wall will be installed on the roof to prevent the construction noise from bothering neighbors.
“Because of the mall’s unique location where its located away from residential properties, there would not be a noise factor,” Powell said. “Another one of the conditions of approval upon the developer’s request was to build a sound wall on the east side of the mall so sound can’t possibly travel to the Manhattan Village, townhouses, or the Manhattan Senior Village.”
The sound wall will be constructed and placed there only temporarily. Before any construction begins, there is going to be a noticing to all of the neighbors to hear their concerns via a call or email, according to Powell. There will also be a hotline for neighbors to call incase there are any issues or complaints.
“The wall will not be something that will be obtrusive and for most of the residents they will not likely see the wall,” Powell said. “We also received a report from a third party sound expert that did projections as to how the noise will travel and it was such as that even without the wall, there wouldn’t be any significant adverse impact.”
Normally, the city council doesn’t allow nighttime construction. However, there are a few exceptions in the municipal code, and the mall qualified because if construction was to occur during the day, they would be forced to close the mall. According to Powell, another reason the council approved nighttime construction was because the structural work that they are going to be doing cannot be done during normal business hours.
Link: Visit the Daily Breeze’s website to learn more about the approval of nighttime construction.
“If the construction was to be done during business hours would pose a severe risk of injury and harm to shoppers or anyone around,” Powell said. “That was one of the principal reasons the nighttime construction was approved.”
According to Powell, because of the way that they are constructing the mall there could be risks of of injury since construction can come with risks. It would not be safe for people who are not construction workers to be at the mall during working hours.
“My family has lived in the village for around twelve years and I’ve become very familiar with the mall,” Junior Dalia Feliciano said. “I think the area has been pretty sleepy for a mall and has the potential to bring in a lot more revenue, so in my opinion the construction is going to be a positive change for both the village and the city of Manhattan Beach.
If the construction was to happen during the day, it would not be safe for anyone except the construction workers to be there. If the council did not approve nighttime construction, the mall would be forced to be closed, and none of the residents would want that, according to Powell.
“I think that the nighttime construction is a great idea because it gives people the availability to shop during the day without having to worry about the loud construction noises,” Hageman said.
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