LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following is a statement by Neighbors for Hillside Safety:
A hearing is scheduled at Los Angeles City Hall Thursday, November 17, for a highly controversial, unfinished ordinance that will impact public safety, increase fire risk, increase harm to and by wildlife, and heavily restrict the right to develop and redevelop housing in the impacted neighborhoods. Property values are likely to be negatively affected in the area, an issue that will be particularly onerous for older residents who have lived in their homes for decades.
The City of Los Angeles, at the ongoing direction and insistence of termed-out elected officials and their staff, continues to waste money and hours of valuable City staff time drafting, and now rushing for approval, another NIMBY-driven antidevelopment ordinance. The so-called Wildlife Ordinance seeks to impose excessive and dangerous restrictions on housing in long-developed hillside neighborhoods even as it fails to address, and often even contradicts, the true needs of wildlife as per the City’s own commissioned PAWS report. The current version would impact approximately 28,000 parcels of land—and backers have publicly stated their desire to expand this ordinance to much of Los Angeles. The ordinance has been pushed by special interest groups, many not even based in LA, without full and proper input from the LAPD, LAFD, LA Country Fire, LA City Animal Control and other essential public safety experts.
The first full version of the ordinance was released to the public in April of this year but was so problematic that even those pushing this reluctantly agreed it had to be significantly altered. The current 40-page version was released by the City on October 21, less than a month ago, along with a highly misleading 605-page staff report. This new version still contains numerous extremely problematic and controversial elements, and in many other ways, the current version of the ordinance isn’t complete, leaving out, for example, important criteria that determine when regulations are or are not applicable. The accompanying staff report is riddled with factual errors. Now they are trying to push this new version into law in a few short weeks.
The ordinance clearly needs to be extensively reviewed by stakeholders, CPC, PLUM, LA’s City Attorney, The Mayor and the City Council—a process that clearly cannot be done in the few short weeks being allowed. Yet some forces within the City and special interest groups are attempting to bypass basic democratic processes to pass this far-reaching legislation within the next couple of weeks, ignoring thousands of comments and questions that need to be answered and addressed. This rush, designed to systemically exclude the input of thousands of impacted residents is but one example of how the development of this ordinance has lacked due process from its inception. Even now, it is not being pushed by Los Angeles residents but rather by special interest groups in concert with now termed-out elected officials and their staff, some with apparent conflicts of interest.
At a time of massive housing shortages, rampant homelessness, runaway wildfires, and increasing crime, the adverse effects of this wrong-minded ordinance are significant. The issues it creates for Angelenos include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Harm To Wildlife - The so-called Wildlife Ordinance is composed of dozens of rules restricting the redevelopment of existing homes in the hills—rules that often make it more likely that there will be dangerous interactions between wildlife and residents. This flies in the face of what most wildlife experts say, which is that intentionally bringing wildlife and people together in already extensively developed areas is a recipe for disaster for all concerned. Proper wildlife management and common sense suggest that Los Angeles’s wildlife management plans should focus not on restricting homeowners’ ability to maintain their homes but rather on the preservation of large open areas with limited chance of interactions with people. The City should invest in connecting such regions with explicitly defined wildlife transit corridors. This ordinance ignores key facts and could very well lead to more mountain lions being killed by vehicles and attacking people. That this ordinance ignores the science shows how this is just another anti-growth effort on the part of NIMBYs that is cynically hiding behind the very real issue of preserving the region’s wildlife. Neighbors for Hillside Safety wants to help protect LA’s wildlife, something this ordinance is not designed to do;
- Increased Fire Risk – As seen in the past few years, there is no larger threat to our communities than fires. This ordinance currently contains tree mandates that will result in increased fire risk. The area is already subject to the Protective Tree and Shrub Regulations, which was expanded in 2021, and residents must conform to mandated brush clearance and severe high fire zone regulations and restrictions. This ordinance is a dangerous step in the wrong direction.
- Potential For Harm To Pets, Children And Adults – A few weeks ago, a mountain lion was captured in Brentwood after evading wildlife officials for hours. Schoolchildren at Brentwood Science Magnet were forced to shelter in place for hours while the large cat sat under a tree outside the school. If the so-called “Wildlife Ordinance” as currently drafted is passed, we should expect to see more wildlife/human interactions in private and public areas. Residents of the impacted areas will have to worry about danger to pets and children in their own yards. They will have to worry about increased fire risks that threaten their homes. Those are some of the myriad reasons many wildlife experts have not endorsed the measure as currently written. City leaders and activist special interest groups are blindly and irresponsibly pushing a dangerous ordinance without considering or simply ignoring the true consequences;
- More Anti-Housing Restrictions In A Time Of Critical Housing Shortages – At the heart of the proposed ordinance is yet another attempt to greatly restrict the development and redevelopment of single-family and multi-family housing in Los Angeles at a time when housing shortages are already having a profound impact on the City, from increasing homelessness to the high number of low-income families forced to move out of state. It is apparent that the motivation of many of the supporters of this ordinance is nothing more than a cynical attempt to stop new housing development and ultimately to insulate the hillsides from the necessity of housing stock growth facing the rest of the region. The new rules add to an already extensive list of limitations placed on these properties, particularly the Hillside Construction Regulations that were already updated and made more restrictive in 2017. In some cases of the proposed new ordinance, adding just 500 square feet of space to a property—regardless of its current size—sets off an expensive and lengthy review process, even as many projects in the City are years behind schedule because of a lack of staff to handle the burden of such rules in city agencies. These restrictions will have an onerous impact on thousands of everyday families living in small homes on small lots in the community.
- Will Embroil The City In Costly Litigation With Residents And State Officials – Some of the proposed Wildlife Ordinance rules clearly violate recent state laws that have been designed to curb such NIMBY efforts at the local level. This ordinance will almost assuredly lead to expensive litigation with state regulators and possibly local landowners. The City cannot afford the time or money to engage in costly litigation nor the distraction from the essential management (public safety, housing, financial, etc.) of Los Angeles at a time when the incoming new Mayor and Council Members need to deal with the many crises that need to be dealt with.
“Despite some revisions by the City, this still-flawed proposal is being rushed through by the City before certain elected officials are forced to leave office. Real wildlife and environmental experts believe that many of the remaining proposals can do more harm than good while non-biologist NIMBYs with no scientific backgrounds are pushing this ordinance,” said Christopher Thornberg, spokesperson for Neighbors for Hillside Safety. “The 2014 motion that directed the Planning Department to develop an ordinance to preserve and protect existing wildlife corridors and remaining open space wildlife habitats is not accomplished by the currently proposed ordinance.”
The majority of affected Neighborhood Associations and Neighborhood Councils fully support wildlife protection efforts, but many of these associations oppose the latest draft due to its unfair requirements and restrictions that have little to nothing to do with wildlife. Although some positive changes were made to the last draft, Neighborhood Associations and Neighborhood Councils are now scrambling and need more time to analyze and register their concerns, comments, and questions.
“This ordinance has been drafted by special interests and termed-out politicians who are misusing the process to enshrine their, and their staff’s, personal preferences in law. The drastic restrictions on current homeowners and the dangerous conditions it will mandate by law severely harm residents with no actual benefits for wildlife, even as it intensifies the housing shortage crisis and speeds up the pace of gentrification in many of our historic neighborhoods. This flies in the face of what the City should be focusing on, expanding the housing supply and focusing on efforts of environmental remediation that actually help wildlife and climate change. The City should focus on protecting its open space, not restricting development,” added Thornberg.
Editor’s Notes:
A copy of the backward ordinance can be found at https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/wildlife-pilot-study#draft-ordinance
The Proposed ordinance will be heard by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission (CPC) on Thursday, November 17, 2022, beginning after 8:30 a.m. This public hearing on item 9 will be conducted entirely on Zoom and will allow for remote public comment.
The CPC meetings can be listened to by dialing (213) 621-2489 or (818) 904-9450.
The meeting can be viewed online via Zoom at: Https://Planning-Lacity-Org.Zoom.Us/J/89302917251 and use Meeting Id: 893 0291 7251 and Passcode 042951.
Media Contacts:
Eric W. Rose Eric@ekapr.com
Christopher Thornberg chris@beaconecon.com
