Caruso to Drop Lawsuit against City, Westfield

Harbicht: Developers Guilty of Misusing Environmental Laws

According to a letter sent to the city by the Westfield Vice President, the corporation has decided to withdraw its request to convert 13,500 square feet of retail space into restaurant use.

“Although we are confident that the City made the correct determination and that it would be vindicated in Court, the opportunity to join Westfield Santa Anita is an attractive one for a number of other retail uses,” Westfield said in a statement.

“Consequently, we do not believe that the dedication of time, resources and funds necessary to defend the Caruso lawsuit is warranted under the circumstances.”

Caruso confirmed that they would be dropping the lawsuit against Westfield and the City of Arcadia following the withdrawal, but said they could not comment further due to the pending lawsuit Westfield filed against Caruso (when).

According to former mayor and Councilmember Bob Harbicht, Caruso will drop the lawsuit once the city rescinds approval of the Westfield restaurant project, which they discussed in a closed session before Tuesday’s council meeting.

The council will probably take action at the next meeting to officially rescind the approval, he said.

“The city feels confident that had the lawsuit gone through, it would have found in our favor and in Westfield’s favor, and that we did the proper thing,” Harbicht said. “I think what happened is it would take a year to get through the courts and Westfield decided it’s not worth waiting that long to get the result.”

Mayor Pro Tem Peter Amundson, who joined Councilman Gary Kovacic as the only two votes against the additional expansion when the issue was first brought before the council in July, said he thought it was a good thing that Westfield decided to vacate their request.

“I think more assessment of the total development is needed,” Amundson said. “This was an unusual situation where Westfield was constantly making small impacts that eventually were going to add up to a large impact with parking, traffic, sewage and all that.”

Amundson said he thought Westfield needed to look at the impact as a whole.

“I think they’re on the right track now,” he said. “They’re going to look at all the plans and put it on their review.”

Harbicht said he felt both Westfield and Caruso are guilty of using the California Environmental Quality Act for their own corporate purposes, and that neither has a particular concern for the environment.

“It’s just a way to get a competitive advantage, but Arcadia and its residents are caught in the middle,” he said.

Neither lawsuit has been paid for with city funds, as the development agreement with the city requires that any legal action be paid by the developers.

Harbicht said he hopes to see Westfield withdraw their lawsuit against Caruso as well.

“They’ve held up the Caruso project for nearly two and a half years now and it’s going to be held up even longer,” he said. “I’d like to see them do the right thing and withdraw that lawsuit and work together.”

Councilman Amundson agreed, saying he would like to see Santa Anita and Westfield cooperate better.

“Westfield definitely needs some more parking and Santa Anita needs more revenue,” he said.

Officials from Arcadia First, a group of Arcadia residents and business owners supported by Westfield, said they had no position on the withdrawal of the request.

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