CTB Update 3/14/24:

Deep pockets win!  We won’t sugarcoat our loss in the legal challenge to the HighRose project.  Chill The Build does not have the monetary means to continue a legal battle at this level of expense.  As a result, with great sadness, CTB chose to withdraw our lawsuit.  We felt forced to walk away before we could have our day in court.

Regardless of the outcome, the concerning question remains, is building housing next to a refinery a good idea in this day and age?  Mayor Napolitano didn’t think so, and we believe most of you don’t either.  Given the outpouring of letters that opposed this project and over 7,000 petition signers against the project, we felt the community concerns and support.  So what happened?  

Apparently anyone can build housing next to a refinery.  City Planning itself determines such a location is viable, as noted in the City’s Housing Element documents. Perhaps City Planners did not take pause in making that decision, and therefore, the thought of pursuing a written finding showing health and safety issues was never considered.  The Housing Element states that environmental constraints affect the feasibility of residential development.  It also states that “All parcels included in the Sites Inventory were reviewed for any known environmental constraints, sewer and water capacity, and dry utilities.”  We sure would like to know what review was conducted and if there was any consideration of the dangers posed by one of the biggest polluters in California, the refinery.

We need housing, especially affordable housing.  Unfortunately the one-size-fits-all State housing laws are paving the way for unintended consequences.  As seen in this instance, a full environmental study was never required, so the State never considered that maybe building housing next to a refinery is a bad idea.  The local communities have no control due to poorly written laws, and then must live with the negative results of these laws and decisions.

We suggest that you take a look at the group OurNeighborhoodVoices.com and get involved!  They are fighting this Sacramento overreach and we can only hope they have success because we do not want overbuilds that our City was never designed to host.

Now that HighRose is going to be built, we need the community to be the eyes and ears for anything that could jeopardize the health and safety of our community.  Please contact the City to report anything of concern:  Talyn Mirzakhanian, Community Development Director, tmirzakhanian@manhattanbeach.gov (310) 802-5503; Doug Atkisson, Senior Building Inspector, datkisson@manhattanbeach.gov (310) 802-5529; and our City Councilmembers.  If it’s an emergency, call 911. 

You can’t make change if you don’t try.  While this is not the news we want to be sharing, we know we did the right thing for the right reasons.  To all you supporters of CTB, don’t let the naysayers tell you otherwise.