After spending at least $13 million to acquire 33 landslide-impaired lots and another $17 million to reconstruct Potrero Canyon into an upscale neighborhood, L.A. Recreation and Parks officials explained last week why the end result is far from resolved. Appearing before the Palisades Community Council, the three officials gave a PowerPoint presentation which outlined the project’s three-sided nightmare: bureaucratic demands, fiscal constraints and lack of consensus on what should ultimately constitute the landscaping and public amenities in Potrero. The immediate challenge, said Kevin Regan, the new area manager for Rec and Parks, is to find about $1.2 million to complete the final phase of construction (Phase II). The city owes $300,000 to the contractor for work already done and $850,000-$900,000 to repair two landslides in the canyon, one off De Pauw, the other off Alma Real. Then there’s the estimated cost of $7 million to $12 million to complete Phase III in Potrero, with suggested plans calling for 7.9 acres of riparian habitat and 22 acres planted in coastal sage, along with a system of trails and picnic areas leading from the Recreation Center down to PCH. This final package is also currently unfunded. Although the City of L.A. now owns 33 residential properties along the edge of Potrero that are ready to be certified for sale at auction, the California Coastal Commission ruled many years ago that none of these lots could be sold until after the entire park project was completed. Since the city’s real estate investment could now easily pay for Phase III, ‘we want to remove that special condition,’ project director Jane Adrian said in her presentation to the Community Council. ‘[But] Coastal Commission staff has advised us that they will not consider an amendment to do so until a designated account is set up to safeguard the proceeds from lot sales. This will ensure that the proceeds go first to complete all phases of the project, before the [city’s] general fund gets reimbursed.’ Adrian said her department has to take the following steps in this process: ”Rec and Parks has already drafted a City Council motion asking to set up the designated account. ”The Council has forwarded it to the City Attorney for review as to form. ”Council District 11 (Cindy Miscikowski) takes the motion before Council. ”Council must approve. ”The City’s General Services Department sets up designated account for lot sales proceeds. ”Rec and Parks submits amendment to Coastal Commission to remove special condition. ”General Services sells lots and deposits proceeds to the designated account for use to finish project. ‘I think Coastal will approve our request, though they’re kind of whimsical at times,’ Adrian said. When asked about a time frame for getting the lots finally sold, her predecessor, Kathleen Chan, said: ‘We’re looking at over a year.’ Meanwhile, as the financial process bumps along, Rec and Parks plans to submit two more amendment requests to the Coastal Commission. One is to remove the proposed re-circulating stream from the plan originally mandated by the commission and instead ‘depend on seasonal water and irrigation to maintain riparian habitat’ (as it originally existed when Potrero was a deep, wild canyon before the bulldozers and dump trucks arrived). The cost was estimated at $13 million a year ago. The second request by Rec and Parks will be to ‘remove the condition of constructing a parking lot and restrooms at the bottom of the canyon, unless a bridge can be funded and constructed across PCH.’ Audience member Judith Collas asked, ‘Will there be any public input into the final plan?’ Chan responded, ‘This plan will be done through community meetings and workshops. We’re just not there yet.’ Determined to have the Community Council retain an influential voice in creating the final overall plans for Potrero Park, Highlands representative Norm Kulla made a motion urging Rec & Parks to return to the council for input before submitting any amendment requests to the Coastal Commission. The motion passed, and Potrero Canyon will once again be on the council’s agenda next Thursday evening, May 27, at the branch library.
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