Local News in Brief : Land Purchase to Be Ballot

Hermosa Beach voters will be asked to vote June 7 on a plan to use a recent 4% increase in the city’s utility user’s tax to purchase the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway right of way through the center of town between Valley drive and Ardmore Avenue.

Voters agreed last November to increase the utility tax from 6% to 10%. The measure, unanimously placed on the ballot by the City Council, would earmark increased utility tax revenues solely for acquisition of the 20-acre greenbelt.

The measure, which requires two-thirds voter approval, also provides that the tax would return to 6% once sufficient funds have been raised to buy the land.

The council also agreed on Tuesday to certify as adequate an environmental impact report on the railway’s proposed change in zoning for the property.

For the past two years, the railroad has sought to use the right of way for commercial and residential development. Approval of the environmental report is another step in that process.