Los Angeles practices LCP interruptus
By John
Davis
The City of Los Angeles is flouting the
law, to the detriment of all of us coastal
dwellers.
Chapter 1, Section 30006, of
the California Coastal Act reads as follows: “The Legislature further
finds and declares that the public has a right to fully participate in decisions
affecting coastal planning, conservation and development; that the achievement
of sound coastal conservation and development is dependent upon public
understanding and support; and that the continuing planning and implementation
of programs for coastal conservation and development should include the widest
opportunity for public participation.”
Los Angeles is doing something different. The
Coastal Act requires local governments to create Local Coastal Programs (LCPs)
to ensure maximum public participation in the planning process. The LCP must
also be designed to reflect and implement the stringent environmental and access
protections of the Act.
The City has
completed only half of the Venice LCP, but is allowing development at such a
rapid rate that it will prejudice the Coastal Commissions ability to certify a
LCP consistent with the Coastal
Act.
The City plan is a rush to
change the face of our fair community forever without letting the public
participate. Huge luxury apartment complexes and angular buildings called
“artists lofts” are going up all over Venice and the City is
allowing other buildings to exceed the legal heights required by the certified
Land Use Plan.
Development sprung up
before a Land Use Plan for Venice was ever
certified.
Until a Land Use Plan is
certified by the Coastal Commission, all permits for coastal development must be
approved by the Coastal Commission.
The
two condo towers, euphemistically known as the Regatta and Water Terrace, stand
as a developer’s view of what Venice should be. They were approved by the
City years before the certification of the Venice Land Use Plan. The Coastal
Commission turned a blind eye to this huge problem and let the City get away
with it. It appears that the original project should not have been permitted
until the Venice Land Use Plan was certified. Perhaps new hearings are in
order.
And now as a further insult to the
good citizens of Venice, the City is again cutting the public out of the
process. According to Theresa Henry of the Coastal Commission, Los Angeles has
not submitted the final part of the LCP to the
State.
In fact the City has not
even submitted a draft of the required Implementation Plan to complete the
Venice LCP in over two years. And it is no wonder, the City has not held one
required workshop or public
hearing.
Recently the local Sierra
Club Regional Group filed and won a lawsuit against the City to stop it from
illegally destroying one of the only original wetlands in Venice. The City had
planned to use heavy equipment to dam and dig up the wetlands, letting the sea
life die slowly in the sun. We won and still have our
wetland.
But the fight is not over, the
City is still appeasing the interests of large scale developers and hanging the
community out to dry.
We are all
watching a movie about Venice. Special effects are being used to transform small
homes and businesses into a huge gated luxury community of bizarre trophy homes
overnight. And we the people are just
watching.
It is not too late to preserve
our unique coastal heritage. People of all walks of life have a right to live in
Venice. We are a Renaissance culture of free thinkers perfectly capable of
protecting our own interests.
So it is
time to demand that the City begin holding public workshops and hearings on the
final component of the LCP, the Implementation Plan. Those of us who call Venice
home will settle for nothing less.
Posted: Fri - February 1, 2008 at 03:09 PM
