Meeting Date: 06/14/05 07:00 PM

Meeting Type: Regular

Location: Mulholland Tennis Club
2555 Crest View Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Details: A MEETING OF THE AREA 9 COMMITTEE
OF THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS WEST NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Mulholland Tennis Club, 2555 Crest View Drive
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Tuesday, June 14, 2005

AGENDA for the meeting of the Laurel Canyon, Briar Summit/Mulholland/Torreyson, Woodrow Wilson and Willow Glen Communities

1. SIGN-IN, WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS.

2. Review and approve minutes of prior meetings (vote).

3 With a report from Erik Sanjurjo, our Council District 4 field deputy, update and discuss the recent landslides and traffic problems, ongoing road repairs and possible road repavings as a result of the rains and landslides – focusing on Laurel Canyon, Woodstock Road and Willow Glen.

4. Report on and discuss various real estate developments in our area.

5. Update and discussion on the fate of area 9’s now dead beautification proposal for the city-owned southeast corner lot at the Laurel/Mulholland/Woodrow intersection.

6. Report on the work of the Citizens Oversight Committee to Preserve Open Spaces in
our area. Discussion of the hillside meadow which is between Cardwell Place, Willow Glen and Harlsden Court.

7. Report and discussion on the City’s Planning Department’s efforts (and community opposition to) the updating of the Hollywood Community Plan. Possible votes.

8. Report on the upcoming stakeholders’ meeting of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council on June 23rd at the Yucca Community Center where stakeholders are being asked to vote on proposed changes to the HHWNC’s bylaws.

9. Public comments and any business for the next meeting’s agenda.

10. Plan and set next meetings’ times and places.

11. Adjournment.

AREA 9
Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council
Meeting Minutes
June 14, 2005

In Attendance: Erik Sanjurjo, Council Member Tom La Bonge’s Field Deputy for our area, Eva Ballo, John Gray, Verna Cornelius and Jim Slack, Hilary deVries and Michael Walker, Helen and Meyer Keleman, Tim Lannen, Gail Reynolds Natzler, Don Duckworth, Fernando de Jesus, Robert Raphael, Tim Braseth, Violet Peeler, Richard Klug, Toni Tucci, Alan Kishbaugh, Maria Wilhelm and Fernando Miguel Fernandez, Ellen Sondheim, Wendy Dytman, and Orrin Feldman

The meeting was called to order at the Mulholland Tennis Club at 7:15pm.

LANDSLIDE & TRAFFIC PROBLEMS: Field Deputy Erik Sanjurjo came to tell us about what was being done to correct traffic problems as a result of the recent mudslides. He spoke about the landslide at the south end of Laurel Canyon near Little Laurel Canyon Blvd. and Gould, and how the Department of Public Works had an ongoing study to determine whether any additional remedial work would be needed there.

Erik also told us Nichols Canyon’s water repiping project was nearing completion, and that the road should be repaved in large part by the end of the summer and completely from below Woodrow Wilson by July 2006.

Erik said that the work to rebuild Woodstock Road would require approximately 13 caissons to be built, and that it was Public Works/Street Services’ No. 1 priority after Public Works/Street Services completed rebuilding Cole Crest, which is off Kirkwood on the western side of Laurel Canyon Blvd. Street Services had told Erik that the Cole Crest project was almost done, but Hillary deVries reported that she had been there very recently, and that it seemed that Street Services’ work had hardly begun.

Erik said that Willow Glen would get repaved after the work on Woodstock was completed because both streets could not be worked on simultaneously to keep the area accessible for emergency service providers, like the LAPD and LAFD. Erik explained that the part of Willow Glen which is east of Laurel Canyon would be done first because it was in the worst shape, and that the budget would allow a large part of the street up to the Woodstock intersection to be repaved, but possibly not all of it at this time.

Many people mentioned their particular streets as being need of repaving or having not been repaved in over a decade. Erik said that street repaving money was in short supply, and that if there was more money in the budget, the next streets on the list were Laurel Canyon (entirely) and Woodrow Wilson (from west of Firenze to Mulholland).

Gayle Natzler mentioned she’d called DWP many times about a broken pipe on Woodrow Wilson that has been spewing water continuously for over five years; despite sending people out to (literally) look at it, nothing’s been done.

When asked about an update on the lower Laurel Canyon slide (that closed the road)- Erik said that it may take months to determine the depth of the problem, and many years to fix it.

Wendy Dytman asked what activity was occurring on the dirt area of Mulholland Drive just east of Dona Pegita. Richard Klug explained that it was a staging area and that some people have been misusing it as a dumping area. If we see someone dumping, it was suggested that we write down the license plate and report what we saw/see to the Hollywood Police Precinct or the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy’s Rangers.

There was a request for speed bumps on Willow Glen near Nichols, but Erik said that this was best tabled until after the road was repaired and then the best thing would be to submit a petition of the residents of the area. To get any street considered to be placed on the list for repaving, a letter writing campaign to Council Member La Bonge’s office was suggested.

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENTS: Orrin reported that contrary, to what we’d thought earlier, Prosper Levy still owned the Yehuda Arviv houses. Dr. Mel Remba (the Vice President of the Mt. Olympus Property Owners Association) and Orrin Feldman met with a number of prospective buyers of the property. The prospective buyers’ had a due diligence packet which seemingly did not include the California State Court of Appeals’ 2002 with regard to those houses and any development there, which required an environmental impact report/review process to be undertaken by the developer(s)- and enjoined any further development to be undertaken there until the EIR process was completed.

With regard to Bulwer Drive, Don Duckworth mentioned that Bulwer Drive LLC, the partnership for which he is the local manager, was considering building an additional six houses along that hillside.

Tim Lannen discussed four vacant lots at the intersection of Woodstock and Lulu Glen. He reported that the owner had requested lot line adjustments. He mentioned that if homes were built on those lots, it would seem to require two dangerously steep driveways which might require variances in order to be built.

Orrin mentioned that, at 8150 Willow Glen, there is a vacant lot where a previous home burned down many years ago, and that the new owner is finalizing plans to build a 4,200 sq. foot home with the Mulholland Design Review Board.

Also, he mentioned that there was a major remodeling occurring at 8119 Willow Glen without permits, and that the City’s Building and Safety Department was investigating the situation there.

There was also a discussion of a permit granted for a home at 2600 Woodstock.

CRIME: There was a discussion of the recent break-ins in the Nichols Canyon and Woodrow Wilson areas. Police believe they are being committed by a group doing robberies as far west as Bel Air and as far east as Los Feliz. The LAPD seems to be on top of this, and a number of attendees particulary praised the responsiveness of the Hollywood Precinct’s detectives. Everyone was cautioned to keep their doors locked when at home and to take note of strangers in the area.

LAUREL CANYON/WOODROW WILSON CORNER: The beautification project there is dead for now.

CITIZEN’S OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE OPEN SPACES: The Conservancy is looking at a beautiful open meadow off of Harelsden Court (off of Willow Glen). People didn’t know about this and expressed interest in checking it out.

HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY PLAN UPDATE PROJECT: Orrin mentioned the plan to add 22,000 people to the Hollywood area over the next 10 years, with development to be concentrated in corridors along Sunset, Hollywood, Highland, Western and Vermont. The City’s Planning Department held a “scoping meeting” at which many local residents spoke in opposition to any increase in the population density. A draft of the plan has yet to be published, and the process is continuing. The impact on traffic and other problems must be considered as part of that process.

UPCOMING STAKEHOLDERS MEETING of the HOLLYWOOD HILLS WEST NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: Orrin announced this will be held the evening of June 23rd at the Yucca Community Center. They are looking to change some bylaws, including the length of terms held by officers. He urged everyone to attend and to vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS: Gayle Natzler mentioned the Conservancy has done a terrific job of brush clearing on the Briar Summit property. Wendy Dytman mentioned that the work was done by female prisoners

There was a complaint about loud oversized trucks using Willow Glen to get to Apollo to do work in Mt Olympus; it was suggested that calls to the Building and Safety Dept. to complain might help.

As we move into the hotter days of summer, Orrin mentioned the City is planning to place a red flag at prominent buildings (i.e. libraries) to indicate that street parking on narrow hillside streets will be prohibited (due to the need for fire truck access). This was the first everyone heard about this, and everyone felt that this was NOT the way to get the word out. Hopefully, notices in the newspapers and public service announcements on the local television stations will be used to inform the public of this new rule before major ticketing occurs.

Wendy Dytman moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 pm. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously by a voice vote.