Four more potential sites for an electrical distribution station (DS-104) in Pacific Palisades were evaluated during a closed meeting of the L.A. Department of Water and Power task force on Wednesday, November 14. The task force was agreed upon in June after a meeting between Los Angeles Unified School Board Member Steve Zimmer, DWP General Manager Ron Nichols and City Councilman Bill Rosendahl that was prompted by local opposition to build DS-104 on an empty parcel adjacent to Marquez Charter Elementary School. The sites evaluated last week were all vacant parcels and included a .95-acre lot at 16990 Sunset Blvd.; a 19.39-acre site at 750 Via Santa Ynez; a 6.43-acre lot at Santa Ynez Canyon (between Marquez Elementary and Palisades Drive); and a 4.72-acre patch of land at 370 Paseo Miramar. On October 17, the 15-member task force reviewed four other properties, including a 1.1-acre lot at 16931 Pacific Coast Highway; the former location of Bernheimer Gardens in the 16970 block of Sunset; a Los Liones site located near Fire Station 23; and a .99-acre site in the 300 block of Via Nicholas. A detailed evaluation of the seven remaining potential sites will take place at the next task force meeting on Wednesday, November 28 before a ranking process begins, said Palisadian-Post sources. After that meeting, three subsequent closed-door meetings will focus on placing all 15 proposed locations on a tier system, said Victoria Cross, a spokesperson for the DWP. The top four sites, which will be recommended by task force members and not DWP representatives, will be regarded as ‘tier one.’ These candidates will be presented to the community as part of a public workshop sometime in mid-January. Tier two sites will consist of four locations to be considered if the tier one sites all turn out to be unfeasible. Tier three sites will be those identified as an unfit match for the community. It is unlikely that any of the remaining sites, including the location next to Marquez Elementary, will be placed in the top two tiers, said one task force member, who added that DWP representatives have stated that all the sites are ‘feasible and no site is technically undoable.’ The sites placed on the top tier will be put through a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process to determine their potential feasibility for serving as the location for DS-104, Cross said. The CEQA statute requires state and local public agencies to identify the environmental impacts of their proposed projects and to avoid, or when possible, lessen those effects. DWP claims that DS-104 is needed to satisfy the town’s growing electric needs. Recently, the DWP task force has been criticized by the Pacific Palisades Community Council executive committee, Councilman Rosendahl’s office and in an editorial in the Post for a lack of transparency and for failing to properly reach out to the public. Mike Bonin, Rosendahl’s chief of staff, made the following statement in an e-mail to DWP’s Nichols: ’These closed-door proceedings are hurting and undermining the task force and DWP’s selection process. Moreover, it runs counter to everything Bill Rosendahl stands for’open and transparent government. ’On behalf of Councilman Rosendahl, CD11 joins the Palisadian-Post and the Pacific Palisades Community Council in urging you to direct DWP to open these proceedings immediately. Closed-door proceedings breed suspicion and mistrust and undermine the process. If the Task Force’s deliberations do not have the respect and faith of the community, its recommendations will lack credibility and its work will be fruitless.’ Additionally, several task force members told the Post they would gladly welcome media coverage of the proceedings. Fittingly, in an effort to create more openness in the task force’s ranking process, PPCC Area 3 representative and task force member Jim Rea said in a statement that he is seeking ‘a better way to interact with my community of constituents, provide a better way to keep them informed about issues that are of potential concern to them and to provide a better way for them to express their concerns.’ Rea stated in a letter that he hopes the ‘community will take advantage of the opportunity to share their concerns’ with him. Area 3 covers the Marquez Knolls neighborhood, the Bel-Air Bay Club stretch as well as homes and streets in the nearby vicinity. Those who wish to contact Rea can do so via e-mail at jarea@kw.com, or through his blog at PPCCArea3.blogspot.com. DWP representatives told the Post that despite the above mentioned requests to open task force meetings to the press and public, they felt the process of selecting a site might be impeded by such an action. Cross reassured the Post that all the information about the top-tiered sites will be made available to the public in the January ‘community’ workshop. The DWP Board of Commissioners will make the choice as to which site is ultimately selected the decision.
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