PURPOSE

On October 5, 2004 the City Council members asked staff to provide options for providing comments to the City of Los Angeles on the Canyon Hills Development project in the La Tuna Canyon area of the City of Los Angeles due in part to a number of people who asked Council to oppose the project during oral communications at Council�s September 21, 2004 meeting.  This memo provides some basic background on the project, the current status, and what actions the Council may consider to facilitate discussion as part of the first step in a �One-Step, Two-Step� process.  

BACKGROUND

On October 2, 2003 the City of Los Angeles released a draft environmental impact report (DEIR) that had been prepared for the Canyon Hills Project for the required 45 days of public review.  The proposed project consists of a General Plan Amendment, a Zone Change, Vesting Tentative Tract Map, and Site Plan Review for a subdivision of 887 acres of raw land.  Approximately 280 single family homes are proposed on 194 acres of the project site, and the remaining 693 acres would be preserved as open space.  The project site is located in the City of Los Angeles on the north side of La Tuna Canyon Road where it intersects with Interstate 210 as shown on the attached location map.  The site of the proposed subdivision is approximately 1 mile north of the northern City boundary which is generally located on the ridgeline of the Verdugo Mountains.  Planning Division staff visited the Rim of the Valley Trail on the ridge of the Verdugo Mountains to examine the potential view of the proposed project.  Staff did determine that some portion, if not all of the 194 acre single family subdivision as it is currently designed could be seen from the Trail.

The DEIR addressed all areas where an impact to the environment could occur including grading, haul routes, air quality, equestrian activities, riparian habitat, and scenic vistas.  In the Aesthetics section of the DEIR it clearly indicates that the subdivision will be visible from the Verdugo Mountains to the south, and that this impact cannot be mitigated and will result in an unavoidable adverse impact even after applying the list of recommended mitigation measures as outlined in the DEIR.  The DEIR also includes an analysis of five alternatives, including a �No Project� alternative where the project site would remain undeveloped, two alternatives with the same density but reconfigured, a reduced density alternative for 87 homes that would comply with the existing General Plan land use designation, zoning, and slope density ordinance on the project site, and a fifth alternative for 210 homes.  The DEIR was reviewed by City staff and it was agreed that all of the areas of potential environmental impacts had been disclosed, including impacts on scenic vistas.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) defines the purpose of an environmental impact report as a disclosure document that identifies the potential environmental impacts the project may cause, mitigation measures that can lessen those impacts, alternatives to the project and the environmental pros and cons of those alternatives, and what impacts cannot be mitigated to a level of less than significant.  The CEQA process is meant to unearth information about the likely environmental consequences of any project � from general plan to permit approval � and to make sure that those consequences are debated by the public and the decision makers before action is taken. 

On September 7, 2004 the City of Los Angeles released the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) which incorporated responses to all the comments received during the 45 day public review period.  The FEIR appears to meet the standards established by CEQA.   The FEIR identifies and discloses the environmental impacts associated with the proposed project, and identifies mitigation measures that will mitigate some of the impacts.  The FEIR also discloses the impacts that cannot be mitigated to less than significant levels such as aesthetics, and notes that a statement of overriding considerations would need to be adopted by the City of Los Angeles before the project could be approved.

The FEIR clearly indicates that the proposed project will have a significant impact even after mitigation on the scenic vistas from the Verdugo Mountains.  As this appears to be the most direct impact to the City of Burbank, if the Council so desires staff can prepare a letter to the decision making body, asking that the project as currently designed be rejected.  The Council could also contact Los Angeles City Council representatives.

The City of Los Angeles will likely conduct an initial hearing in early December with a Hearing Officer in the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.  The Hearing Officer will make a recommendation to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission; however no date for the public hearing with the Planning Commission has been scheduled yet. 

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that Council discuss the matter and provide direction

Attachments

Vicinity Map

Project Site Plan

Photographs of the Project Site from the Ridge Line

Summary Section from DEIR

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