News of the Arroyo
Title: | Council angered over project OK |
Subtitle: | Board of Public Works action at issue |
Date: | 2007-09-12 |
Summary: | September 12, 2007 - The LA City Council rebukes the Public Works Board and takes decisive action to review the development on Elephant Hills. |
Author: | Kerry Cavanaugh, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Los Angeles Daily News |
Content: | In a battle over turf and authority, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to consider overruling a Board of Public Works decision that gave permits to a controversial El Sereno hillside subdivision after the council put the development on hold for more study. The vote involves a 25-home project on one of the last major swaths of open space in Northeast Los Angeles, but the unanimous decision to assert jurisdiction touches on long-simmering frustration among some council members that commissions and department heads answer more to the mayor than the council. \"There are times we\'ve discussed on council floor ... the tensions we\'ve felt and at times the disregard, if not disrespect, from city department heads, from city staff, in how they respond to this council,\" Councilman Ed Reyes said. \"This instance is a reflection of that type of disregard for our priorities as council members.\" Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents El Sereno, said he was angry that the mayor-appointed Board of Public Works appeared to ignore the council\'s decision in June to deny permits for the Elephant Hill development until a new environmental study is completed. The board voted to \"not only contradict but flout the City Council by allowing the developer to move forward,\" Huizar said. \"I hope we can send a strong message that after the council has decided - a council that is the ultimate decision-making body in the city - that that action is taken seriously.\" But Board of Public Works officials said they weren\'t ignoring the council. They said they were just following the advice of the city attorney, who said the developer had all the needed approvals and that staff must OK permits to begin grading and building the subdivision streets - without further study. \"We do respect the council\'s decision as policymakers for the citizens of Los Angeles,\" said Public Works spokeswoman Tonya Durrell. Indeed the Planning Department, city attorney and Bureau of Engineering have all warned the council that the city doesn\'t have the authority to stop the development. The council approved the environmental report for the project in 1992, and a final map for 25 homes on 15 acres was OK\'d in 2004. The developer, Monterey Hills Investors, applied for the first permits to begin building the subdivision in 2006, which is when Huizar and the community called for more analysis because the original environmental study was so old. In June, the council voted to require a supplemental environmental study, and the developer sued the city over the delays in issuing permits. \"I\'m just curious what makes the (council) think, with all due respect, that they know better?\" said attorney Ben Reznik, who represents the developer. \"Every department has looked at this inside-outside.\" But the council has listened to advice from lawyers with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, who argue the Elephant Hill project expanded beyond what was studied in the old reports approved by council in the 1990s, and so the city can stop the project. The council has 21 days to reconsider and vote on whether to veto the Board of Public Works decision to issue the permits. kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
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