Highlands Coastal Commission Process Disputed

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Highlands Eldercare Facility Process Disputed

By SUE PASCOE

Opponents of the proposed four-story, 64,646-sq.-ft eldercare facility in the Palisades Highlands, which received a Coastal Development Permit from the City of L.A. in April, appealed that decision to the California Coastal Commission.

On July 11, at its monthly meeting in Santa Cruz, the Coastal Commission agreed with the City, letting the decision stand.

However, a group of Palisades residents felt that the process leading up to the Commission’s decision was not fair, starting with improper notification of the Santa Cruz meeting.

On Monday, June 25, the CCC staff mailed empty envelopes to appellants. There were about 170 appellants, split into three groups: 1. Pacific Palisades Residents Association; 2. Attorney Robert Flick and; 3. Attorney Jonathon Klar and his wife Maria.

According to the CCC’s website, when staff realized the mistake, new envelopes were mailed out, this time with the notice about the July 11 meeting.

On July 8, Flick sent the following email to CCC staff: “I received from the CCC an unsealed empty envelope. No notice was enclosed or otherwise provided.

“Based upon my empty envelope, adequate notice of a hearing was not furnished to me with respect to my appeal.

“I again request that any pending hearing be postponed until such time as proper notice is provided.”

In a follow-up July 9 email, Flick wrote, “I just heard from another appellant that a CCC hearing will occur on this matter this coming Wednesday, July 11. I am a separate, independent appellant and would have appreciated hearing the information directly from you.

“Of course, I strenuously object to the hearing going forward this week. I did not receive adequate notice and cannot attend the hearing. I am shocked that the Commission would allow the hearing to proceed based on the staff’s incredibly shabby and deficient job of notifying interested parties. This is a shameful denial of due process.”

On July 10, Klar also wrote an email to the Commission: “Please take notice that we join in the demands of all other 170+ appellants in this case that the July 11 hearing be continued to the next available meeting of the Commission following the proper re-noticing of the hearing and publication of all required documents filed or considered in this matter by the Commission.

“Going forward would not only violate the Commission’s own rules and procedures but would violate the fundamental rights of all appellants to due process and equal protection guaranteed by the United States and California Constitutions.”

Resident and appellant Marc Jackson called the CCC on July 6 and told staff that not all appellants had received a notice. At least 20 other appellants also sent emails to the Commission stating that fact.

The CCC staff admitted that they made an initial error with regard to noticing, but that a subsequent notice “had gone out well before the July 2 deadline.”

Appellants wanted to know why the appeal hearing could not be postponed to August, when the meeting will be held in Redondo Beach?

The law states that the Coastal Commission must hold a hearing within 49 working-days after the appeal is filed. Rony Shram, the eldercare facility applicant, could have waived the 49-day period, but chose not to, according to the CCC.

Staff told commissioners: “Regardless, appellants who have raised noticing issues are fully aware that the hearing would be scheduled for the Commission’s July hearing, and have previously indicated their issues with the project as part of their submitted grounds for appeal which were fully addressed in the staff report. Thus, the hearing on this item has been adequately noticed and the views of all appellants have been provided to the Commission.”

Two of the appellants, Flick and Klar, were not able to make the meeting at Santa Cruz because of lack of noticing, and an appeal most likely will be filed.

At the hearing for the 82-room facility (59 for assisted living care and 23 for Alzheimer’s/dementia), none of the commissioners questioned the City’s traffic and parking report, which approved plans for only 66 parking spaces.

PPRA President Sarah Conner pointed out that since this would be a “luxury” facility, parking spaces for doctors, additional caregivers, cooks, janitors and visitors should have been factored in—that to allow overflow parking on the street would take away parking space that is currently used for the two parks and hiking trails adjacent to the facility: Topanga State Park and Santa Ynez Park.

The Coastal Act was passed to ensure that the public has access, not only to the coast/beach, but also to park lands. Conner said that people think that since the Highlands is 2.5 miles from the beach, the Coastal Act does not apply.

“It does, because of public access,” she said, noting that the CCC staff report failed to address the access/parking to the trails and they also discounted the view of the building from the trails.

“Why didn’t they [CCC] require the project to put up story poles,” Conner said in an interview. “Then we could see if the view was impacted. The public has a right to walk on a trail and not see a 45-foot building.”

Appellants did not understand why the City’s report was not analyzed from a Coastal Law perspective. “They accepted the City’s recommendations without question,” Conner said.

Klar wrote in comments to the CCC, “This is the very reason for the Coastal Appeal — to avoid a rubber stamping of the APC (area planning commission) decision by requiring the appellants to prove a substantial abuse of discretion. The No Substantial Issue determination was intended only to weed out frivolous appeals, which ours clearly was not.”

At the hearing, the group of appellants received five minutes total to state their case and the applicant also received five minutes.

Commissioners Steve Padilla, Ryan Sundberg, Robert Uranga and Mary Luevano all reported ex-parte communications.

Mary Luevano reported an ex-parte communication from Councilman Mike Bonin, who said most people in Pacific Palisades supported the elder care facility.

Luevano noted she received a text from Councilman Mike Bonin on Monday, July 9 around 2:30 p.m. “He just wanted to let me know he is in favor of the project and most people in the community are in favor of it and that we need it.”

An Our Change.org petition was sent to Bonin on April 13, with more than 1,300 signatures on the PPRA petition opposing the project.

I twice asked Bonin how many people had contacted him in support of the project, first by email on July 15 and then in person on July 21, when he was on a hike here in the Palisades. He said he would let this reporter know.

Additionally, on July 19, a story in the San Luis Obispo newspaper The Tribune (“Pismo Councilman Erik Howell Fined for Transparency Violations”) reported that “Coastal Commissioner Erik Howell was one of five current and former commissioners fined in a judge’s ruling last month for violations of transparency rules.

“San Diego County Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor’s decision to fine Howell $3,500 on July 12 comes after a two-year battle over a lawsuit filed by Spotlight on Coastal Corruption (SOCC).

“SOCC, a nonprofit organization formed to protect the California coast, filed the lawsuit August 2016, against Commissioners Howell, Martha McClure, Wendy Mitchell, Mark Vargas and Steve Kinsey.

“The lawsuit charged that Howell violated Public Resources Code requirements at least 96 times, Kinsey 140 times, McClure 82 times, Mitchell 120 times and Vargas 150 times. In the end, the commissioners had to pay $3,500, $30,300, $2,600, $7,100 and $13,000, respectively. (Howell and Varga still serve on the CCC.)

“The judge in his decision questioned the Coastal Commission’s makeup, saying it’s ‘clear to the court that Legislature needs to consider the current and future viability of the Commission as it is presently constituted. Specifically, the court sincerely questions whether the mandates of the Coastal Act — the protection of natural resources with due respect for property rights — can be efficiently carried out with transparency and participatory openness using a part-time unpaid volunteer board that meets three days a month.’”

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12 Responses to Highlands Coastal Commission Process Disputed

  1. John Schwartz says:

    Bravo, Sue Pasco. Despite the fact that you stated the Palisades News failed to pay you for 4 months of your work, you keep working for our community with this timely and high-quality blog. I, for one, am impressed by your industry and integrity. Thank you from one Palisadian to another.

  2. Mario Macera says:

    The Coastal Commission has become corrupted just like the city of L.A.

  3. Stephen Dickey says:

    I’m seeing a lot of grasping for straws by the opposition who have now failed with seven administrative actions trying to stop the project. Empty envelopes were replaced the next day and the local lawyers didn’t know about the hearing? Really?

  4. Riccardo Gallo says:

    Do we know if any of the members of the so called “Commission” ever visited the site /area were the facility will be built?
    Thanks.

  5. Sue says:

    Steve,

    Did you go to the Coastal website and look at all of the correspondence? Interesting reading. How on earth do you send out empty envelopes? And then realize it the next day?
    Why didn’t Shram just say, “Fine, postpone to August.” It would have been faster in the long run. Most likely there will now be an appeal because of due process.
    Also, I’ve kept track of the process–can you list the seven administrative actions so I have them? (Maybe you’re including twice with the Pacific Palisades Land Use Committee and also with the Pacific Palisades Community Council?) Thanks.

    Sue

  6. Sue says:

    Riccardo,

    One of the commissioners said he had an ex-parte visit to the site with Shram and other members of his party. It’s on the audio portion of the hearing.

    Visit: http://cal-span.org/static/meetings-CCC.php

    Sue

  7. Janis Gallo says:

    How disappointing to hear this all about the Coastsl Commission. Clearly they
    had little concern about our petition and did not take the care to get all of the facts.
    I realize the need for elder care and the empathy for such a project. However that need
    should not spoil the parkland for everyone else in the greater community as well as for
    current residents. The massive size of this planned institution is totally over scaled
    for the size of the land. All staff and visitors to the institution will gave to drive and park
    in the area as there is not public transportation for more than 2 miles down a steep canyon. This is totally the wrong project for the area.

  8. Harvey Mushman says:

    I’m from Venice, the CCC is our last stand for hope. Bonin has his opinion about what is “good” for the community that does not agree with vast majority of residents and property owners. What is clear to me, if you make campaign contributions he will be much more likely to support you. And if he sees an underdog angle in your request or the project you are proposing, his gay defense mechanism kicks in full force ahead.

    The traffic on Sunset is considered a wave of the future but let’s not forget that Mike Bonin approved three school expansion projects at the start of his first term. Those projects allowed the private schools in the area between Bundy and the 405 to more than double the traffic impacts. The trip counts from these schools in the AM drop off time frame and the PM pick up time frame added over 1500 trips in each direction. No mitigation requirements were imposed, yet Bonin who was and continues to be Chair of LADOT Commission was aware of what these impacts would be to the community.

    We on the west-side need new leadership. Bonin is the worst leader we have had in over four decides. Recall Bonin was a good answer but did not include enough outreach to his district.

  9. Harris Leven says:

    It was inevitable that a lawsuit would be filed against the City and the proposed elder care project in the Highlands because the project is replete with violations of environmental laws and City ordinances. Unlike the procedures of other governmental agencies, the City’s land use planning process does not provide for interrogatories and depositions, followed by a true hearing / trial with sworn testimony and cross-examination. As such, developers are free to say, file, and do whatever they think it takes to get their projects approved without fear of exposure (and this applies to opponents as well). So, it does not matter if there are three, five, or seven agency “hearings,” the land use planning process has devolved to where a developer’s lawyers, lobbyists, and large political contributions can outweigh statutes, City ordinances, and the public good.

    If Mike Bonin wants to support the proposed project that is his political prerogative. But as a City Councilmember he should insist that California State laws and City ordinances be obeyed; he has not done so.

  10. Tom Meade says:

    The development’s a Hail Mary pass to monetize
    the property at the expense of view and serenity
    starved city dwellers – not to mention poor
    “inmates” expected to live out their days in
    relative isolation far from the needed stimulation
    of a bustling, socially intensive setting. Dog
    getting old? Get it a puppy – don’t stake it
    behind the barn.

  11. Maryam says:

    Very informative piece. Thank you Sue.

  12. Barbara Gould says:

    As usual Sue, you have done your fact-checking and wrote a very informative piece. I’m glad you are keeping us Palisadians informed though this venue. It’s a shame the News didn’t honor it’s financial commitments. Your staying on for four months without being paid shows your character. Too bad others in town don’t have that same honorable behavior.

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