Meeting Date: 01/08/04 07:00 PM

Meeting Type: Regular

Location: Mulholland Tennis Club, 2555 Crest View Drive

Details: 1. Welcome, introductions and sign-in.
2.. Review and approve minutes of prior meeting (vote)
3. General Meeting
a. Discuss/List Issues Specific to Area 9
i. The Nichols Canyon Sewer Rebuilding Project
ii. Update on the Laurel/Mulholland intersection construction project
iii. Update on the Bulwer Drive houses and road design project
iv. New and proposed construction projects on Willow Glen and Woodstock
v. Update on other local developments
b. Discuss/List Issues Applicable to Entire Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council
i Update on HHWNC’s discussions at recent meetings with regard to the
operation of Runyon Canyon Park, a proposal to build a parking lot at the
the southern end of the park, a proposal to expand the parking lot at the
northern end of the park and proposals from HHWNC’s Infrastructure Issues
Committee on how the park might be improved. Discussion and possible
votes.
ii Update on HHWNC’s discussions with regard to various proposals to
limit on-street parking by residents on streets near Runyon Canyon Park.
4. Public comment and any new business for the next meeting’s agenda
5. Plan and set next meeting’s time and place
6. Adjourn

The purpose of the meeting is to give everyone information and a voice regarding issues in the community in accordance with the Neighborhood Council’s by-laws. For more information, please contact Wendy Dytman at [email protected] or Orrin Feldman at (323) 656-0440.

AREA 9, HOLLYWOOD HILLS WEST NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES FOR JANUARY 8, 2004

In Attendance: Orrin Feldman, Wendy Dytman, Kathie Warwick, Marc Leger, Albert Morell, Mary Margaret Robinson, Gail Netzler, and Lorna Bitensky

The group met at the Mulholland Tennis Club at 2555 Crest View Drive. Orrin Feldman called the meeting to order at 7:20 pm.

Albert Morrell moved that the minutes from the last meeting (Sept. 17, 2003) be approved, and they were approved.

Orrin passed out a map of the Nichols Canyon Water Main Replacement Project for discussion. More than 7,000 feet of the water main is being replaced along Nichols Canyon Blvd. from the catch basin at the southern end of Nichols Canyon Road to Woodrow Wilson Drive in five phases. The total project will take 18 months to complete. The work began last week on phase one, which will replace the water main between the catch basin and Carstair Rd, which is south of Willow Glen; this is the stage that will probably have the greatest effect on Area 9 residents from Briar Summit to Willow Glen. It is expected to be completed in five months. (Phases 2 through 5 will be north of Willow Glen). DWP plans to patch the road after each phase of the project is completed; when the entire project is done, Nichols Canyon Road will be completely repaved.

The Laurel Canyon Blvd./Mulholland Drive intersection was discussed next. The right hand only turn lane going southbound on Laurel Canyon (turning west on to Mulholland) is operational. Orrin announced that unlike in the past, when the project was under the auspices of three separate council districts, the transportation department reorganized on a council district basis, and the entire project has now been consolidated under the Hollywood/Wilshire district in control. Michelle Fleenor will get the Hollywood/Wilshire people up to speed. Open issues which the neighborhood council and the CD4 still are working on include the installation of an arrowed turn signal for the southbound traffic on Laurel Canyon to make left turns to go east on Mulholland; a proposal to increase the amount of green light time allotted during the traffic signal’s cycle for east-west traffic; a proposal for arrowed turning signals for east-west traffic making left turns to get on to Laurel Canyon and for northbound traffic on Laurel Canyon making left turns to go west on Mulholland. There is no specific left turn lane northbound on Laurel Canyon to turn west on to Mulholland. Mary Margaret said that Irwin Kodash, the Traffic Dept. Engineer who had been in charge of the intersection’s reconstruction until the project was transferred to the Hollywood/Wilshire district, told her that the money for this was approved and had been put aside, which we will have to look into. To ease the traffic lines in the morning, a second traffic signal has been proposed for the Briar Summit/Mulholland intersection, which would work in tandem with the signal at the Laurel Canyon/Mulholland intersection.

The Bulwer Road houses and proposed road design were discussed next. Orrin reported that Joan Luchs, Alan Kishbaugh, and Orrin Feldman met with City Attorneys Jeri Burge and Patty Tubert for a very productive two hour meeting. The City Attorneys were very interested in the fact that there had been a landslide over ten years ago which had closed Bulwer Drive for a considerable period of time. The City Attorneys are going to convene a meeting with the City’s geological and other technical experts to consider the geotechnical issues concerning this project. We are hoping the outcome of this meeting will re-enforce our position(s) on the proposed road design.

Also, there was a question about whether the developers could rebuild the third (burned down) house on Bulwer. Orrin said that to rebuild on that site they would have to start the permit process from scratch.

Additionally, Orrin said that, at the District 1 Open Spaces Meeting he attended, which Dr. Mel Remba chaired, Paul Edelman of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy staff director, recommended to the District 1 Board that it authorize the purchase of some tax foreclosed lots on the Bulwer Drive hillside, and explained that there are several additional “paper roads” on the City’s map of the Bulwer Drive hillside. Paul explained that there were paper roads at intervals of about every 200 feet along Bulwer Drive, which could result in significant additional development there. The Conservancy is interested in purchasing lots in a checkerboard pattern in an effort to block (or slow) development. We all agreed to support that plan.

Orrin discussed a new proposal by the owner of the lot which runs from 2600 Woodstock Road to 7685 Willow Glen to subdivide the lot and build a second house on Willow Glen, which would be in addition to the proposed 4,900 sq. foot home for the top of the lot at 2600 Woodstock. We are working with Renee Weitzer and Daniel Brumer at CD4, the Mulholland Design Review Board, the Building and Safety Department and the Planning Department to ensure that a coordinated comprehensive review is made of the developer’s proposals. Last spring, when the MDRB approved a single house on this lot, many neighbors objected to the lack of notice of the proposed house. There was a consensus that the Planning Department and the MRDB should re-review the whole project, and that the neighbors should be allowed to see the developer’s plans before any city agencies provide any additional approvals and before any grading or other construction begins there. There is a grading permit application pending, and one neighbor received a notice about it last week.

Regarding the Woodstock Road extension houses, previously known as the Yehuda houses, Orrin reported that the new owner, Prosper Levy, has not been in contact with Renee Weitzer at the CD4 office, and that there was nothing new to report.

Also, the Dept. of Transportation has agreed to implement three projects per month in our district if they are CD4 priorities. We are working with Michelle Fleenor to make the replacement “No Parking” signs along Woodstock and repairing the crumbling pavement on Woodstock where it intersects with Willow Glen as one of those three priority projects.

Orrin passed out minutes and recommendation from the Neighborhood Council Infrastructure Committee about Runyon Canyon Park. Kathie Warwick remarked that it seemed that the Recreation and Parks Dept. might be trying to keep dog owners and dogs away from the park by withholding maintenance. Kathie also mentioned that the Infrastructure Committee’s recommendations contained a phrase about diffusing dog usage and regulating dog usage for safety and public health, which seemed to be an indirect way of seeking authorization to regulate dog owners and dog behavior. She recommended that we work to remove this phrase, and there was a consensus to do so. The consensus was that any such regulations should be done directly and discussed directly in plain English.

The general sentiment, which was stated by both Kathie and Gail, who both agreed to attend the next Infrastructure Committee meeting to lend support, was that many of the problems attributed to the dogs are actually the result of poor park management (i.e. over-pruning of greenery which prevents it from reseeding). Kathie reported that of the $1 million of bond monies set aside for approving Runyon Canyon Park, approximately half ($500,000) has already been used for plans which haven’t been put up for anyone’s approval and to reimburse the Recreation and Parks Department for overhead expenses.

We agreed to take the position that there are environmental issues (water problems at the bottom of the Park; and clear cutting problems at the top of the Park)- but that these issues should NOT be used indirectly to try to rid the park of dogs. With that notable and important exception, we agreed to support the technical improvements suggested by the Infrastructure Committee.

There was a discussion of the street parking situation at both ends of the Park. The residents on the lower streets, most specifically, the residents of Vista Street, want to use City parking restrictions (i.e.- parking only with a permit) to keep non-residents (and their dogs) out of the park. We discussed their concerns about the traffic, noise and mess from the dogs that enter the park that way.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. Orrin was authorized to set the time and place for the next meeting.