Briefs: A Local News Roundup

Rosendahl supports Sunset Widening; Cell Phone Towers Decisions Delayed; and Temescal Updated

Rosendahl Supports Sunset Widening Councilman Bill Rosendahl has thrown his support behind an L.A. Department of Transportation plan to widen a stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood. The plan would add an extra eastbound lane between Gunston Drive and Granville Avenue (past Barrington). ‘This project will help move traffic along Sunset onto the 405 Freeway and take pressure off of residential streets in the community,’ wrote Rosendahl in a January letter to LADOT transportation engineers. The widening is currently in early planning stages. Temescal Park LVNOC Named Councilman Bill Rosendahl named three longtime Palisades Community Council members to the seven-member Local Volunteer Neighborhood Oversight Committee (LVNOC), which will oversee how $250,000 of Proposition K money is spent in Temescal Canyon Park renovations (from PCH north towards Palisades High). Rosendahl chose Harry Sondheim, Stuart Muller and Ted Mackie. The remaining volunteers are not yet known. Currently, many of the park’s wooden pagodas and picnic tables have fallen into disrepair (‘Temescal Renovations OK’d–And Needed,’ Palisadian-Post, February 8). Lower Temescal was one of the few parks to be allocated Prop. K money last year, but visitors may not actually see changes until July 2008, according to Neil Drucker, who helps manage park funding for the city. Surfview Cell Tower Motion Postponed Meeting last Thursday, the Community Council delayed a vote to oppose a Sprint/PCS plan to install a 25-ft. cellular tower at 468 Surfview Dr., near the Getty Villa. Councilmember Barbara Kohn asked the council to support her motion on behalf of Dr. Walter O’Brien, whose house is adjacent to the proposed tower. But Harry Sondheim’s motion to table the plan until representatives of Sprint could attend a meeting was supported by nearly all voting council members. Approval of the site depends on the city’s Board of Public Works, which oversees the installation of above-ground facilities in the public right of way. No hearing has yet been scheduled with the board because Sprint has not finalized its plans. Highlands T-Mobile Tower Decision Delayed At a public hearing on March 1, Associate Zoning Administrator Larry Friedman postponed making a decision to approve T-Mobile’s proposed 22-ft. monopine on vacant private property at 16699 Via la Costa, behind homes in the Enclave in the Highlands. Nine residents attended the hearing. Many residents said they were not given sufficient notice of the proposal and feared the effects of the tower on their property values and health. Friedman gave residents another 14 days to voice their concerns, but he indicated that he was ‘inclined to approve the project.’ Nissan Open Leaves Locals Fuming Homeowners near the Riviera Country Club are still fuming about last month’s Nissan Open. Record attendance at the yearly PGA tournament meant a traffic headache for residents who live in the Polo Valley neighborhood west of Allenford Avenue and below Sunset. At last week’s Community Council meeting, residents said that they received numerous parking tickets when they parked outside their homes. In order to keep traffic flowing, Parking Enforcement placed ‘No Stopping’ signs in areas where parking is usually permitted. Residents like Reza Akef want parking permits so that they can park outside their homes during next year’s tournament. But city laws do not allow such preferential parking, said Andrea Epstein, a Council District 11 field deputy. The council hopes to involve more Riviera neighbors in next year’s traffic plans. Mansionization Proposal Doesn’t Apply The city’s proposed Neighborhood Character Ordinance, which aims to limit the size of new and remodeled homes to preserve ‘community character,’ will initially not apply to Pacific Palisades, if it is ultimately enacted by the City Council. In an e-mail to the Post, Erick Lopez of the Department of City Planning explained, ‘If adopted, the proposed ordinance would affect all lots zoned single-family residential, which are not located in a Hillside Area or Coastal Zone. ‘ While the Coastal Zone [as defined by the California Coastal Commission] does exempt some of the property in Pacific Palisades from this proposed ordinance, most of the exemptions are due to the Hillside Area designation that Pacific Palisades is in. Most of the Brentwood-Pacific Palisades Community Plan Area is excluded from this current proposal, and the parcels that are subject to the ordinance are in the Brentwood area south of Sunset Boulevard and north of Wilshire.’ That exemption has confused and angered some community members who want the law applied here in the Palisades. ‘Everything south of Bestor [Boulevard] is flat,’ said Jack Allen, a Community Council member, who lives in Alphabet streets. ‘I don’t know why it doesn’t apply here, but I want it to.’ The council plans to invite Lopez to a future meeting to discuss plans the situation. ————— Reporting by Staff Writer Max Taves. To contact, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.