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In a Thursday, March 6, 2025, memo to the City Council, City Attorney Nick Ghirelli warned the council there was a threat of litigation against Seal Beach.
The council discussed the threat on Monday, March 10, during a closed-to-the-public session that started at 4 p.m. and was continued after the close of the regular council meeting that started at 7 p.m. and ended around a quarter past 8. (California law allows agencies to hold meetings that are closed to the public to discuss such things as litigation, real estate negotiations, and labor negotiations.)
“No reportable action was taken,” at the meeting according to a March 11 email by Ghirelli.
The possible litigation would apparently seek mandatory approval of Seal Beach permits to allow the Los Alamitos residential development project to go forward.
A copy of the memo is available for public inspection at the City Clerk’s office. The city provided the Sun with a copy.
The memo
The memo was dated March 6, 2025. “Subject: Threat of Litigation: Lampson Park Place Project”.
“On March 4, 2025, City representatives and I met with an official whose jurisdiction includes the City of Seal Beach. The official requested that their identity remain confidential,” Ghirelli wrote.
“The meeting involved the proposed residential development project located at 4665 Lampson Avenue, known as the Lampson Park Place project (“Project”). During the meeting, the official notified the City that, based on information provided by a representative of the property owner and developer of the Project, litigation may be filed against the City of Seal Beach in order to compel the approval of certain permits and agreements by Seal Beach, including utility connections for the Project,” Ghirelli wrote.
“According to the official, the basis for this litigation is that the Project involves a residential use that state housing laws currently require Seal Beach to approve,” Ghirelli wrote.
“I understood this information as a credible threat that, unless Seal Beach acts on the Project-related permits and agreements, either the property owner/developer of the Project and/or a State agency is considering a lawsuit to compel Seal Beach to act on them,” Ghirelli wrote.
“This memorandum was prepared pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(e)(5) as a record of a statement threatening litigation.
Public comment
Patty Campbell, a member of the Seal Beach Planning Commission who has criticized the Lampson project, said Los Alamitos would, if they hadn’t already, file a lawsuit against Seal Beach to force Seal Beach to take sewage from the Lampson project. (The Ghirelli memo did not say if the lawsuit would be filed by the city of Los Alamitos.)
“Our infrastructure is over 60 years old and in some cases issues that have existed for over 20 years,” Campbell said.
What permits?
District Five Councilman Nathan Steele declined to comment on what permits might need Seal Beach’s approval, citing the fact the discussion would take place during a closed (to the public) council session.
“There’s a long list of permits they’ll need, though,” Steele wrote.
“City has discretion,” wrote Carol Churchill, a critic of the Lampson development, in a March 10 email.
“For starters, they need to do curb cuts on the north side of Lampson,” wrote Patty Campbell, who represents District Four on the Seal Beach Planning Commission, in a March 10 email. Campbell has publicly expressed concerns about the Los Alamitos development’s impact on Seal Beach’s College Park East neighborhood.
“[T]hey also should have permits for construction traffic,” Campbell wrote.
“[B]ut before we get to that, the city should tell them no permits for anything until the sewer issue is resolved. Don’t want them digging up that street,” Campbell wrote.
“[I]f they don’t get to hook up to our sewer system. No sewers, no project,” Campbell wrote.
“Developer wants to force city to issue Ministerial permits without council review. Developer threatening litigation. Citizens should put pressure on council NOT to back down. Developer ignored numerous Cumulative Impacts on Seal Beach in FEIR. Mitigation Measured must include sewer, storm drain, Lampson safety, lower density. Public pressure needed,” Churchill wrote.
(Note: FEIR stands for Final Environmental Impact Report.)
Background
According to the Draft EIR dated April 24, 2024, available at ceqanet.opr.ca.gov, the project would build 246 residential units made up of 55 detached houses, 114 townhomes, and 77 affordable apartments for rent. The location, a former office building, is on the Los Alamitos side of the Los Al/Seal Beach border.
Some Seal Beach residents oppose the project, particularly in the College Park East area of Seal Beach. Critics of the project have expressed concern about impacts on traffic, parking, and Seal Beach’s sewer system.
The draft EIR for the Lampson Avenue project in Los Alamitos, Section 3.3.7 (Infrastructure Improvements – Sanitary Sewer Infrastructure) said, “the document should disclose that Seal Beach sanitary sewer service is contingent upon receiving a Seal Beach City Council-approved agreement for service outside the Seal Beach service area boundaries and (as applicable) LAFCO approval.”
“The DEIR assumes Seal Beach will approve an inter-jurisdictional sewer service agreement; however discussion of alternatives should be provided should the agreement not be approved,” according to the document.
The response in the DEIR said: “The Project site is located within Rossmoor/Los Alamitos Area Sewer District’s (RLAASD) sewer service area boundaries. RLAASD does not, however, have sewer lines that connect to the Project site. As a result, since approximately January 1975, the City of Seal Beach has been providing sewer services to the Project site.”
On Oct. 24, 2024, the Sun asked City Attorney Ghirelli if the city of Seal Beach could legally deny sewer service to the Lampson Avenue property.
“I am unable to comment on this question as it is subject to the attorney/client privilege,” Ghirelli wrote on Oct. 28, 2024.
