Take Action!
Please send an email to Mayor Garcetti and the City Councilmembers that represent the affected Santa Monica Mountains, and voice your opposition to the implementation of this memo.
and please CC:
info@clawonline.org
Subject: March 30, 2021 Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan
Implementation Guidance Memorandum – OPPOSED!
Dear Mayor Garcetti and Councilmembers Krekorian, Blumenfield, Raman, Koretz, and Bonin:
I am a stakeholder of LA's Santa Monica Mountains, and I am vehemently opposed to Director of Planning Vincent Bertoni’s March 30, 2021 Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan Implementation Guidance Memorandum. The memorandum, issued unilaterally by Director Bertoni with no prior notice or opportunity for public comment, purports to limit the oversight of the Specific Plan’s Design Review Board (DRB) by declaring that projects not visible from the Mulholland Drive right of way are exempt from review by the DRB. The Director’s action is in direct conflict with the express language of the Specific Plan, exceeds his authority under the City Charter, and usurps the legislative function of the City Council which signed the Specific Plan into law in 1992.
The Director’s decision removes the code-mandated expert and professional advice of the Mulholland DRB from decision-making for most of the Specific Plan area. This decision also reduces public oversight of many projects with potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to parkland, scenic overlooks, scenic corridors, wildlife corridors, riparian areas, and the urban forest, dramatically altering a legislative action of the City Council.
As the elected officials who represent Mulholland Scenic Parkway constituents, and who are responsible for appointing the Mulholland Design Review Board members, we ask that you collectively urge Director Bertoni to immediately rescind and withdraw his illegal memorandum.
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