Planning & Land Use Management Committee

Chair: JJ Popowich
Vice Chair: Jozef Essavi
Members: Lisa Haberman, Chris Jurgenson

Regular Meeting Time: 1st Wednesday of the month at 6:30

Goals: To provide community input to the City's Planning & Land Use Management process. The PLUM Committee will hear all proposals for any development, building, or land use issues that are planned within our boundaries.

This is the first stop for most developers once they have filed their requests with the City. Our job as a Neighborhood Council is to review the matter before the City hearing date and provide our recommendation on whether the WNC approves, rejects, or requests a modification to the request.

February 2008 Committee Actions

The committee voted to recommend that California Home Builders be granted a zone change from RA to R1 and any necessary tract divisions to build 8 single family homes on the property located at 855 Lurline Ave, Winnetka as presented on February 2008.

The committee approved a plan to place a large cross like T Mobile antenna in the location specified with a setback of 15 feet (a variance of 10 feet) at Faith Lutheran Church, 7500 De Soto Ave, Winnetka. This will include the addition rock landscaping at the bottom antenna and continuation of the landscaping scheme to cover the equipment facility.

The PLUM Committee recommends the approval of the parking plan for Valley Catholic Korean Apostolate Church, 20124 Saticoy Ave, Winnetka, CA. They are requesting approval for a zone change of a parking lot area. The existing parking lot will be reconfigured to hold 113 cars out of a required 92 cars. In addition we recommend that the front of the church facing Saticoy be improved to increase graffiti prevention (i.e. some type of creeping vine).

Proposed Elementary School

LAUSD has proposed and is moving forward with adding an elementary school to the Sutter Middle School campus. The elementary school plans to serve 650 students in 26 classrooms on 3.5 acres in the northeast corner of Sutter Middle School. The school would be South of Valerio Street and West of Lubao. This part of the middle school was previously used as a parking lot, gardening area, maintenance & operations area, and paved recreational area. LAUSD plans to start construction Spring of 2008 for occupancy in Fall of 2010.

The WNC came out with a position against the school construction project in June 2006 with a letter to the LAUSD Board and again in March 2007 with a letter to Councilman Zine and in June 2007 with a letter to the LAUSD Board. WNC concerns include

• Insufficient traffic mitigation
• Exposing elementary students to middle school gang members and tagging
• Loss of playground area for the middle school
• Interruption of middle school classes due to construction noise
• Abundance of seats at existing Winnetka elementary schools

Soils testing uncovered the existence of contaminants, including arsenic, lead, chlordane, and dieldren. Removal of these contaminants is to be completed in January 2008.

You may access LAUSD information about this school at their site, including timelines, budget and project documentation.