Redondo Beach City Council takes steps to purchase AES power plant site

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Redondo Beach has its eyes on a power plant.

The Redondo Beach City Council had taken steps to purchase the AES power plant site. It will be financed through an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District.

According to the city council, an EIFD doesn't increase taxes, it redirects them. Property taxes collected in the district would be diverted from the county and instead be used for the purchase. The city wants the majority of the land to become a regional park, the rest a mixed-use development. Because the plant uses ocean water to cool its steam turbines, under new state regulations, it must be decommissioned by 2020.