Updates

The STNC meeting held at North Valley Neighborhood City Hall saw over 80 neighbors, visitors and the STNC board. Straw poll was taken regarding continuing meeting at NVCH with majority of the audience preferring the NVCH. STNC will hold the April meeting at NVCH and the May meeting will be at Mt. Gleason.

Oro Vista Park improvements are moving forward with funding from Prop K. The Dept. of Recreation and Parks will oversee the design of the improvements in collaboration with a Local Volunteer Neighborhood Oversight Committee (LVNOC). Oro Vista park is located at the northeast corner of Oro Vista Avenue and Grove Street. Angela Motta at Council District 2 has set up the first meeting to discuss the design. If you want to be involved, plan to attend on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7 p.m., North Valley City Hall, 7747 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga. Questions? Call Angela at 818-352-3287.

Community Calendar -- Thanks to the Sunland Tujunga Coordinating Council we now have a "community-wide" calendar online and you can be a part of it. If your group or organization has an event, e-mail the details to Fran and Ray at STCalendar@aol.com. The calendar is linked from the ST Chamber web site at www.stchamber.com and also from the STNC web site at www.stnc.org -- Keep an eye on this calendar as it is sure to be the "go to calendar" of the future. http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?crd=daphne

Greg Bartz, LADWP Neighborhood Council liaison handed out information on the DWP's major infrastructure improvement programs "Taking it to the Street". DWP is exploring the possibility to provide on-line information regarding LADWP projects taking place in our local area. This would provide a resource for stakeholders to go to and see upcoming and in process work projects in a specific area that might limit your access. Also, large signage to alert neighbors of upcoming projects is being considered.

More DWP -- You are cordially invited to attend a workshop regarding LADWP's strategic planning process, which is currently underway. The workshop will include a presentation of LADWP's draft plan as well as seek input from all stakeholders. Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 9:30 am in the LADWP Cafeteria Conference Center, 111 N. Hope Street. Parking is free.

T-Mobile has applied for a 60 foot cell tower to be installed on the Canyon Market lot at Hillrose and Tujunga Canyon. This will be the first of its kind in the area with a height of 60 feet. The height is necessary due to the apartment building directly across the street. The cell tower needs to exceed the height of that building. It will be a monopine - fake tree - structure. The STNC's Land Use Committee and neighbors have discussed this proposal at two meetings. T-Mobile put up a balloon at the 60' height but due to rainy and windy weather the balloon became caught in a tree. The Land Use Committee members have presented the following concerns:

• Whenever a major telecom decides they need a cell tower or monopine installation to benefit their customers, the community always takes an aesthetic "hit" that can't be mitigated. The visual effects are long-lasting and there is NO guarantee that the final installation will be visually appealing much less benign.
• A precedent is being established with the approval of this tall monopine at the proposed location. Once approved, other carriers will be more likely to want to do the same types of installations for their local customer base. Sunland-Tujunga then becomes a convenient "dumping ground" for these types of installations.
• What ordinances does the City have that effectively prevents a proliferation of these types of towers in local communities?
• Finally, many cell phone customers in Sunland-Tujunga are required to roam off their network to make cell phone calls from their homes. This is because the terrain here is hilly. Most major cell providers do not charge extra for roaming calls. So, are such tower installations really all that necessary for each individual provider?

The public hearing will be on Monday, April 6 at 1 p.m. in Van Nuys. Submit comments to Office of Zoning Administration, 7th Floor, 200 N. Spring Street., Los Angeles, CA 90012 - Case No. ZA-2008-3079(CUW) Conditional Use - 7417-7421 West Hillrose Street, Tujunga, CA 91042.

Comment was made that both La Crescenta and La Canada have established moratoriums on cell tower installations.

Tomi Lyn Bowling gave a report on irregularities with the polling sites and voting on the March 3, 2009 election. A list of concerns will be sent to Karen Kalfayan, City Clerk. Final vote counts for the March 3, 2009 election are due later this month.

Financial Disclosure for Neighborhood Councils along with ethics training and a second NC approval are required to submit a Council File. The BONC has asked the City Council to revisit the Form 54 requirement. STNC has taken a position to oppose the Form 54 requirement and recommends a Declaration instead.

What Are Zoning Tools?

The City of Los Angeles Planning Department invites you to a Public Workshop concerning proposed Code Amendments to create three new Zoning tools. The potential new zoning tools will be introduced and explained, with a chance for questions, answers, and feedback.

The workshop will be held:

March 19, 2009, 5-7 PM

Los Angeles City Hall, Room 1010
200 N. Spring Street, 90012

The proposed tools are concerned primarily with creating opportunities to improve the City's commercial corridors. If the enabling language is adopted, the tools would not change any existing Zoning on parcels in the City. The new tools under consideration will enable tailored development standards designed to fit individual community needs. This workshop will explore the addition of these types of tools to the Zoning Code. The actual implementation of these tools will occur when a Community Plan is updated or as part of other neighborhood study, with community input.

Community Plan Implementation Overlay District (CPC-2009-437-CA): The purpose of this tool is to implement supplemental development standards tailored to each Community Plan area in order to ensure that development implements Community Plan policies and enhances the unique architectural, environmental, and cultural qualities of each Community Plan Area while maintaining compatibility in scale, intensity, and density.

Ground Floor Commercial (CPC-2009-439-CA): The purpose of this tool is to create a tool that will prohibit 100% residential uses on the ground floor, thereby ensuring that targeted parcels retain a commercial component.

Pedestrian Street Design (CPC-2009-441-CA): The purpose of the tool is to provide regulations governing the building orientation and visual aesthetics of development projects to promote good urban design, a built form that is compatible with high levels of pedestrian use, and promote walkable neighborhoods.

There is no proposal to implement these tools at this time in a specific location; this workshop is only to provide an overview of the tools themselves. The goal of the public workshop is to share ideas and explain what types of development standards could be implemented through these three tools, and to listen to input from a range of stakeholders.

For more information contact:
Jon Tanury:
213-978-1214
jon.tanury@lacity.org
Christopher Koontz:
213-978-1193
chris.koontz@lacity.org
Jason Chan:
213-978-3307
jason.chan@lacity.org



Check back for more updates soon!