March 2023 Meetings Recap and More...

At our regularly scheduled PPCC meetings in March (3/9 and 3/23) the Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) covered a great deal. I encourage you all to see our minutes posted here.

We discussed matters from LADWP water rights, to the ongoing work of the Potrero Canyon Oversight Committee (PCOC), to out-of-scale home building in the Palisades, to the encumbrances of our important fire roads, and more.

We heard from the LA City 311 App, LADOT and LA Sanitation, with presentations that can be found on our website, here. We discussed matters of public safety, from LAFD brush clearance to LAPD and crime reposting as well as responsiveness. While larger, community-wide matters were slated for follow up by the Board and President, area-specific issues were referred to the various speakers we've been able to host this month, and many lingering matters are finally being addressed, including illegal parking at the Asilomar View Bluffs, bollards in the Alphabet Streets and fire road access in Marquez Knolls.

One major issue that has been brought to our attention by our Area One representative, Murray Levy and his constituents is that of illegal or overly long excavation sights that accompany building sights that seem to never come to completion. We are working with CD11 and the new Planning District, Jeff Khau, to bring accountability to these sights and to ensure that community residents know where to go and how to report violations or to get recourse. We are also woking closely with Jeff on matters of land use which include the issue of out-of scale building in the Palisades, on non hillside, R1, coastal streets which are currently unregulated due to a loophole in the zoning code. Our LUC, headed by Steve Cron and former Chair, Howard Robinson, alongside informed members such as Richard Blumenberg and Joanna Spak, is woking closely with CD11 to determine the best course of action to correct this loophole until the Coastal Commission imposes new zoning regulations on these coastal streets.

At George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon (GWPPC), the Coastal Commission has required implementation of the Lateral Trail (along the toe of the Canyon parallel to PCH) for coastal access. PPCC has worked hard since the opening of GWPPC to connect the Council Office with the offices of Ben Allen and Jacqui Irwin (our State representatives) on this matter and we understand that progress is being made like never before. While our longtime former Congressman, Ted Lieu, secured $1.15M for the Lateral Trail with funding from the Federal Omnibus Bill in 2022, there is a shortfall of nearly $1.8M to complete the Lateral Trail, while city and state agencies yet have to come together for some sort of access sharing agreement. We have learned that a request for the shortfall has been made by BOE, and we have supported that request (see letter). We have also learned that a request has been made for $75K of the $10M secured by Sen Allen for the bridge over PCH (connecting the county parking lot at the shoreline to GWPPC) to be remitted to the city so that a (required) feasibility study can be dine with respect to the bridge project. With all this developing, and more, we have launched a tab on our website which will be overseen by the Communications Committee of the PCOC, and will be updated as often as possible with new information under a series of subheadings that will make it easier for the community to follow Potrero Canyon progress on issues raised by the community. See that tab here.

Other matters where the Coastal Commission impacts our community include the city's new street furniture rollout which could see new furniture installations at our nine Pacific Palisades bus stop locations. While we have been assured that no new bus shelters are planned for the Palisades within the first year of the rollout (much of the planning based on data surrounding ridership, heat index and wait times) we have expressed our skepticism that the current template for new bus shelters will be suitable for the Palisades. We have impressed upon the City and the team at STAP that digital and/or non static ads can not be part of the bus shelters in our community - many of which are in the coastal zone and/or on scenic highway(s). We have been assured that ads will be static, that digital signage will not be a characteristic of the shelters (somewhat customizable) in our community and that any digital information screens (some essential for public safety and real-time bus information) shall be adjustable for brightness and light pollution.

Internally, we took the significant step to add two new organizations to our organizational board roster. These are the Palisades Americana Parade Association (PAPA) and the Palisades Forestry Committee (PFC). Both are important community organizations - one newly formed and one long established - and both are well placed among our organizational members. Their placement in the categories that comprise the rotating organizational membership of PPCC is forthcoming in April.

This month, the board heard again from LADWP, which asked us to help them protect their water rights. The board voted to support the LADWP in their request for the CA State Water Resource Control Board to maintain their access to clean water from the Mono Basin (see our letter here). LA City 311 Director, Donna Arrechea gave the board a comprehensive report about the city's 311 App and its future plans. The community submitted questions to Donna Arrechea in advance, the responses to which are here. LADOT and LA Sanitation also presented tp us this month. All presentations can be found on our website, here.

Our next meeting will be on April 13th, where we will take up the organizational structure of our board, with the addition of two new members, and hear from City and State offices regarding Potrero, excavations, STAP, Temescal Canyon Road repayment and more. Join us at 6pm by ZOOM (password embedded).

For a listing of community events, please visit our website calendar.