Lawsuit over controversial Riverwalk development in Long Beach is dismissed

A lawsuit seeking to block the development of a new homes on the site of a former Boy Scout camp near North Long Beach has been dismissed.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard L. Fruin Jr. dismissed the case on the grounds that the petitioners who challenged the Long Beach City Council’s certification of the project’s environmental documents waited too long to file their case.

The judge sided against the petitioners, called themselves Citizens About Responsible Plaing, even though at least two Long Beach city officials provided information to the project’s opponents that may have made it seem as if they had more time to file their case.

Jamie T. Hall, the attoey representing the group, said Monday moing he needs to ask his clients what they want to do in light of the new ruling.

“I suspect they’re going to want to appeal,” he said.

The law allowed the group 30 days to submit its case following city officials’ filing of an official notice of the council’s decision. Citizens About Responsible Plaing filed its lawsuit on Dec. 18, and although Long Beach officials filed notice of its decision on Nov. 18, Fruin ruled that petitioners should also have been aware of additional paperwork that Long Beach officials filed on Nov. 12, shortly after council’s initial approval of the project.

The timeline, as reported in Fruin’s order:

• The council approved Riverwalk, a 131-home development to be built on former Will J. Reid Boy Scout Camp, on Nov. 10.

• Long Beach staffers filed a notice of determination on the council’s decision with the Los Angeles County Clerk on Nov. 12.

• The council approved amendments to project-related ordinances when the issue retued for second reading on Nov. 17.

• City staffers filed a second notice of determination, referencing the initial approval, on Nov. 18.

• A CARP member spoke with a deputy city attoey on Dec. 7 to ask when City Hall filed its notice of determination. The deputy city attoey replies the notice was filed in Nov. 18.

• On Dec. 8, a city plaer tells another individual that City Hall filed its notice on Nov. 18.

• The petitioners would have had to have filed their case by Dec. 14 to meet their legal deadline. The case was not filed until Dec. 18.

Although petitioners contended that city officials’ statements should have prevented the earlier deadline from being enforced, Fruin ruled Long Beach officials provided accurate information.

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The project’s opponents failed to ask whether an earlier filing existed and Fruin ruled City Hall is not to blame for the lawsuit being filed after deadline.

Integral Communities, a developer with offices in Newport Beach, proposed Riverwalk.

More to come.