VENICE LCP REDEUX: The Missing Coastal Plan for Venice
By John
Davis
What the hell is an LCP, is it
like a BLT? And what is the Coastal Zone, a place where those near the coast get
zoned? In 1972 when many other environmental laws were being passed like the
Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, another very important piece of
legislation appeared to protect valuable coastal resources and strike a balance
with proposed development but focusing more on protection of the environment.
The U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act of
1972 called on States to voluntarily participate in the enforcement of the
federal act by producing their own state acts to implement the national law. In
exchange participating states are entitled to obtain grants from NOAA, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Coastal Zone
Resource Management. The agreement
between the state and federal government is called the Coastal Zone Management
Plan for California and the state law that implements it is the California
Coastal Act passed in 1978. A Local Coastal Program (LCP) is a plan allowing the
City of Los Angeles to issue Coastal Development Permits without appeal to the
State Coastal Commission which has that jurisdiction today.
A grant was awarded to the state to
complete the Venice LCP in the late 90s. Two components are necessary to
complete an LCP, a Land Use Plan and an Implementation Plan. Until it is
approved by the state the Implementation Plan is called a Specific Plan. After
extensive local public meetings the city documents were submitted to the State
Commission. The Land Use Plan (LUP) was approved in the late ‘90s, but the
Implementation Plan (Specific Plan) was not. The Coastal Commission rejected the
city submission outright for being incomplete and inconsistent with the already
approved LUP.
Now here is the scam.
The prior city councilperson allowed the Specific Plan to go unfinished. The
City Planner at that time Con Howe failed to respond to the Coastal
Commissions’ letter stating the requirements to complete the Specific
Plan. What this absence of planning has led to is the ruin of Venice. The same
density calculations used by the City and Coastal Commission to justify the Land
Use Plan in the late ‘90s are no longer valid because of development that
has occurred since that time and that adversely affected the public
infrastructures such as Lincoln Blvd. and neighborhood streets.
Pretending that past figures can be
valid years later contributes to practices such as the demolition of single
family homes and placement of four condos on the same site effectively
quadrupling density piece meal. Development of the regional area also must be
considered regarding its direct impact on Venice infrastructure, such as
parking.
If this negligence were not
insult enough to Venetians, the city engineer continues to issue coastal
development permits without empowerment of state law, the Brown Act and the City
Zoning Administrator follow suit in a false process. What that means is due
process is removed from the picture and substitute practices similar to the
legal ones are illegally employed.
The
bad news is the public has been frozen out of its right to upcoming process in
regard to due coastal planning in Venice. The good news is the process seems
ready to be started again.
The current
Councilmember, Bill Rosendahl, has sent a letter to the City Director of
Planning expressing his wish to complete the Venice LCP within his term. This
would place the public in the important role of helping plan their communities.
Venice is a very special place and deserves a good LCP. Perhaps we could reclaim
some of our beach area for habitat and exercise the cities jurisdiction over its
beaches and the entrance to Marina del Rey as it rightfully should. Councilman
Rosendahl in my opinion should be commended for understanding that planning is a
long term process with lasting consequences.
Posted: Tue - April 1, 2008 at 08:22 PM
