Open Letter: regarding Lampson Project

SCHELLY SUSTARSIC – ssustarsic@sealbeachca.gov

LISA LANDAU – llandau@sealbeachca.gov

JOE KALMICK – jkalmick@sealbeachca.gov

THOMAS MOORE – tmoore@sealbeachca.gov

NATHAN STEELE – nsteele@sealbeachca.gov

CITY MANAGER – PATRICK GALLEGOS – pgallegos@sealbeachca.gov

An open letter to Seal Beach regarding Lampson Project:

In December 2022, I was invited to the Los Alamitos City Council Meeting on the Update to its Housing Element, Zoning Ordinance Changes, and Approval of a Negative Environmental Declaration that included the Lampson Project.  I live in Rossmoor and have no personal interest in the outcome of any decision made by Los Alamitos or Seal Beach.  At that contentious meeting I made a short presentation asking the City Council to hold a public educational forum on the three issue, but three members of the city council said NO  (Doby, Hasselbrink, Nefulda). 

My goal was to “cool down” the protest of more than 100 residents from Seal Beach by allowing them to ask the Lampson developer questions and make suggestion to minimize public safety issue with Lampson Ave.  

After that meeting I was contacted by two Council Members  (Hilbard & Murphy) and asked to assist them with reviewing the financial records and the housing element, zoning and environmental report.  (I am a former planning commissioner, council member, and lawyer) That request lead me to secure public records relating to the interrelationships of the developers, city staff, elected officials, lobbyists, as well as reviewing legal and financial documents.  My research and analysis has been provided to  various State, County, City and Federal agencies by way of whistle blower reports. 

I am providing you with the background because over 500 hundred  written opposition letters were sent to Los Alamitos in November 2022 and again in August 2024 concerning every aspect of the Negative Declaration to be discussed at the Los Alamitos Council Meeting on November 18, 2024.

It has not disclosed in any Los Alamitos staff report or the DEIR and FEIR that the underlying consultants reports used to create the Los Alamitos DEIR and FEIR were ALL prepared by consultants hired by the property owner and his agent T&B Planning and Les Johnson.  This creates the appearance of bias and taints the technical evidence and conclusions that there are NO significant environmental impacts.  There was a fundamental failure to consider “cumulative impacts” as required by law.  There may also be some provision in the law that was violated as a result of the failure to make the disclosure about who prepared the secured and submitted the technical reports for the DEIR and FEIR.

This is relevant to Seal Beach because of the location of Lampson Project…it borders your city and a military airbase, which means all of the impacts rest in Seal Beach.  For example, the FEIR contemplates that the 1000 or so new residents will be utilizing your parks (Arbor Dog, Arbor Field, Heather) without mitigation.  The Mitigation  Quinby Fee of more than $3 M will go to Los Alamitos, but it is Seal Beach’s open space and parks that will be impacted indefinitely.  Your sewer system is required to serve the property BUT the Rossmoor-Los Al Area Sewer District Board told me that it expects SEAL BEACH to provide a full indemnity agreement to that Sewer District in exchange for an agreement to service the project. Your police department may be called to College Park East to deal with overflow parking and pedestrian accidents on Lampson because the mitigation request for traffic calming measures  and adequate parking was rejected. There is already storm water and sewage flooding in College Park East, and the FEIR has not provided adequate mitigation as described by a letter from your EQCB to Los Alamitos. Your city will be financially responsible for any storm water run off that contains contaminations.

Your Planning Commission and EQCB were not provided with a timely opportunity by your staff to review and provide comments to Los Alamitos before the DEIR and FEIR were drafted – their meetings were cancelled by your staff. On a positive note, your Public Works Director Ms Lee sent a letter in June 2024 identifying the areas of concerns to Seal Beach – which mitigation measures were ignored by Los Alamitos.   

There is no evidence the Seal Beach Community Development Director took any action to seek mitigation measures on behalf of Seal Beach, but she has been holding meetings with George Voigt, the developer, on a regular basis – according to public records I received from Seal Beach.    

I have provided a member of your city council with a document that Los Alamitos management sought to restrict from public disclosure. The document is the appointment by Matt Waken/Lampson LLC of Les Johnson as the agent/lobbyist for Lampson LLC from the moment he resigned from Seal Beach in November 2021,  which matches the date of hiring of Alexa Smittle from Westminster at his recommendation. That document shows that Les Johnson was working on behalf of KB Homes through T&B Planning. T&B Planning secured all of the environmental reports used to develop the DEIR and FEIR for Lampson. There are also text messages showing Les Johnson was meeting with George Voigt before the bidding on Lampson began, before escrow closed, and was actively involved with preparing Los Alamitos zoning changes that benefited his employer.

I am bringing this to your attention because I have read all of the more than 500 comments from Seal Beach residents and can assure you that the financial impact of Lampson project will fall squarely on Seal Beach.  As you know,  your city is required to produce over 1200 RHNA units in the next 10 years.  Your city’s sanitation system will require major repairs and expansion, as you are aware.  Adding 250 units from Lampson to your sewer system increases your capacity demands. Those costs will be absorb by Seal Beach unless Seal Beach officials secure mitigation from Lampson LLC.  The adoption of the FEIR in November vests development rights, which may negatively impact your ability to secure mitigation measures.

On a side note, it was mentioned at a recent public hearing that Seal Beach had not received approval of their Housing Element Update.  I checked public records in November 2024, and the DHCD records disclose that the last document submitted to the DHCD regarding the Seal Beach Housing Element was September 2021.  On November 19, 2021, DHCD sent Alexa Smittle a letter of inadequacy; On April 8, 2022,  DHCD sent  letters to Les Johnson (who left your employment in November 2021) and to Jill Ingram stating the housing element required additional changes;  A year and a half later, in May 2023, DHCD sent a letter to Jill Ingram threatening litigation for failure to make the housing element compliant. Around Decembe 2023, Megan Coats submitted an irrelevant Surplus Land Disposition document to DHCD, and in August 2024, Shawn Temple received a letter from DHCD that your ADU ordinance was defective.  

There appears to be no attempt  by Seal Beach staff to respond to the threat of litigation made in May 2023.   You may wish to ask your Interim City Manager to determine what progress has been by the staff member responsible for updating the Housing Element since September 2021, as a failure to address this issue can result in developers demanding Builders Remedy CONCESSIONS that could result in substantial unintended negative consequences that  impact the quality of life ,and more importantly, your city’s financial situation.

Respectfully submitted.

Carol Churchill