ARROYO SECO NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Transportation Motions from the
Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress

Transportation Motions from the LANC Congress

At the March 31st LANCC meeting, the Northwest San Pedro NC asked the Congress to refer for consideration to other NC's two motions which are below.

First, the NWSPNC is asking for support from other NC's on a citizen's advisory panel set-up by Janie Hahn to evaluate a major development in their neighborhood. They are not asking other NC's to take any position on the development itself, just that we endorse NC's being involved in the process. San Pedro feels it is important to set a precedent in involving NC's at every level of local development projects. (see Resolution #1, below)

Secondly, Northwest San Pedro also presented a resolution asking for NC's to consider requesting "a city-wide examination of traffic policy that includes input and collaboration of Neighborhood Councils". As part of this, they would like LADOT to update its traffic generation studies for all new development. Right now, Los Angeles is using national statistics and there are those who believe those numbers under count the amount of traffic generated by new projects in Los Angeles. If true, that would then result in insufficient traffic mitigation being required. (see Resolution #2, below)

The proposed motions were written so that the name of your NC can be inserted should you wish to take a position on this issue.  Additionally, some background information on the San Pedro study is included below.

If you have any questions, you may contact me at: bradywestwater@gmail.com or (213) 804-8396

Brady Westwater
Chair
Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress

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Resolution #1:

PROPOSED RESOLUTION ON TRAFFIC STUDY

WHEREAS:

Councilwoman Hahn has established a Citizen's Advisory Committee on the proposed Ponte Vista 2300 unit condominium development to advise her on Ponte Vista's pending specific plan application; and

WHEREAS:

the Councilwoman has asked the Committee to focus on what is best for San Pedro, and

WHEREAS:

the Committee will be aided by the City of Los Angeles Planning Department in its efforts; and

WHEREAS:

a significant issue in the proposed Ponte Vista development is traffic;

NOW THEREFORE:

  • Be It Resolved that the __________________ Neighborhood Council endorses and supports the process of advising on what is best for San Pedro through the Councilwoman's Citizen's Advisory Committee on Ponte Vista with the help of the Planning Department; and

The President of the Governing Board of the __________________ Neighborhood Council is instructed to forward a copy of this resolution and its approval to the Councilwoman for the 15 th District, to the Ponte Vista Citizens's Advisory Committee, and to the General Managers of the City of Los Angeles Planning Department and the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation.


Resolution #2:

LANGUAGE REFERED TO LANCC TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

WHEREAS:

using advisory committees selected from the local community or using Neighborhood Councils, and doing actual planning with the assistance of the Planning Department is a model that is good for the City; and

WHEREAS:

Neighborhood Councils are in a unique position to assist the City in how it approaches traffic management issues generally.

NOW THEREFORE:

  • Be It Resolved that the __________________ Neighborhood Council endorses and supports the process of planning in the City through the cooperative efforts of the Planning Department and Neighborhood Councils; and

BE IT THEREFORE:

  • Be It Further Resolved that the __________________ Neighborhood Council endorses and supports a City-wide examination of traffic policy (including consideration of creating Los Angeles specific traffic generation standards) that includes input and collaboration of Neighborhood Councils; and

The President of the Governing Board of the __________________ Neighborhood Council is instructed to forward a copy of this resolution and its approval to the Councilmember for the ___ District and to the General Managers Planning Department and the Department of Transportation.


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Background Info from San Pedro

Thank you very much for approving the proposed resolutions at the LANCC meeting last Saturday. It will be a great help to us in San Pedro as we move forward with good planning in our neighborhood.

Bisno Corp. has proposed building 2,300 condominium units on 61.5 acres of land. Access to the development is available only to and from Western Avenue as the site backs onto a Defense Fuel Supply Depot, an underground storage facility for military jet fuel. By the way, this is the same Bisno Corp that was involved with Lincoln Place in Santa Monica.

The 61 acres are currently zoned R-1 with 15 acres of open space, a designation that would allow approximately 325 new houses. The developer has applied for a Specific Plan amendment that would allow him to build 2,300 units, This would add 30% to the household count in Zip Code 90732, add 10% to San Pedro's population on 1% of its land area, and would add a minimum of 24% to the already burdened traffic on one of the two surface street accesses to and from San Pedro. The population density would be greater than the average per-acre density of the Borough of Manhattan.

The usual way of proceeding is to have the developer prepare a draft EIR, receive comments on it, respond to the comments and then publish the final EIR and adopt the specific plan.

In this case however, Councilwoman Hahn has established a Citizens Advisory Committee on Ponte Vista, composed of Neighborhood Council people and others in the community. The Committee is working closely with the City Planning Department.

It is this planning process we seek to support. While not perfect, it is a good step forward. Frankly, the Committee, Planning Department staff, and the Council office need to hear Neighborhood Council support for this process. It is for that reason we have drafted the enclosed proposed resolution that we hope other Neighborhood Councils will support, and let their collective voices be heard by the Planning Department and the Council office.

The second portion of our resolution which talks about more general support for this type of process as well as a City-wide examination of traffic policy that includes input and collaboration of Neighborhood Councils, was referred to the Transportation Committee for further discussion, but we would welcome your NC's support of the general policy.

We thank you for listening and for your support.

Diana Nave
President
Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council

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Brady Westwater
Chair
Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress
bradywestwater@gmail.com

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