People living along the rim of Potrero Canyon, along with various other residents who have been following the canyon’s saga for more than 20 years, received some unsettling news last Wednesday evening. Construction and completion of the long-awaited (though not necessarily beloved) city park from Potrero down to Pacific Coast Highway is easily six or seven years away, according to projections by George Wolfberg, chairman of the Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee. At the committee’s monthly meeting, members learned that Los Angeles city engineers who have been studying the infill and stabilization project in Potrero have determined that dirt-hauling trucks and land-shaping tractors must return to complete Phase II before Potrero Canyon Park can finally be built and opened to the public. The timeline is grim, said George Wolfberg, chairman of the Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee, as he outlined the stages that need to be accomplished by various city departments, not to mention important decisions by the City Council and the Coastal Commission. Wolfberg later provided more detail in the following report to the Palisadian-Post: ‘With the strong support of Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office and his District Director Norman Kulla, the City has in place a team to complete Phase II [infill and rough grading] of the Potrero Canyon Project. ‘The old manual surveys and grading records are being digitized by City engineers to facilitate completion of design for the grading. It has been discovered that the large conical buttress fill at the end of Friends Street has some geologic issues that need to be remediated. In addition, the City’s project to relocate a sewer main and storm drain impacted by the Via de las Olas ‘killer slide’ will occupy a portion of Potrero Canyon and apparently hold up any further work. The project is presently expected to begin next June with a possible nine-month construction period. ‘The next step will be construction of a buttress fill to protect two properties on Alma Real. This fill will extend across the canyon and cover the former Sun Spot area next to Pacific Coast Highway. The City does not have funds available to complete the Phase II construction. Everyone expects funding will come from the sale of the two surplus properties on Alma Real. ‘Before any property is sold, the Coastal Commission permit for the project must be amended. The permit currently prohibits any sales until the project is completed. It could take up to a year for the City to prepare a package and the Coastal Commission to approve the sale. During this time, it should be possible to determine if the two lots will provide adequate funding to complete the rough grading. The sale of property normally takes about nine months. Every effort will be made to accelerate the timetable. ‘So, realistically, it could be 2010 before serious work is underway to complete the Potrero rough grading.’ Last Wednesday, Wolfberg said that city engineers have determined that Potrero (once a wild, deep canyon) was only 65 percent filled by the previous contractor. Committee member Rob Weber, who joined Wolfberg at a briefing with city engineers a day earlier, noted that the city ‘will need to import a lot more dirt,’ and that Potrero will need ‘significant grading just to shore up the canyon walls.’ This work could take two years, Weber warned. ‘The city is finally of top of the situation and committed to it,’ Weber said, ‘but we were surprised to learn that the project wasn’t as far along as we thought it was.’ Meanwhile, at last Wednesday night’s meeting, the seven-person Potrero recreation subcommittee held its final public discussion about parking and Recreation Center access proposals related to the future canyon park. The subcommittee then voted on 17 proposals, most of them dealing with ways to expand parking and access opportunities at the Rec Center. They voted 6-1 against a controversial proposal to ‘close the Frontera [tennis courts] entrance to all vehicle and pedestrian access,’ which proponents in the Huntington Palisades believe would reduce traffic on residential streets around Frontera. The entire Potrero committee will vote on these various proposals at their January meeting.

Owner to explore other options available under Specific Plan

In a letter written last Friday to the City Planning Department, Shell Station owner Jin Kwak announced his intention to withdraw his appeal to replace his garage with an automated, drive-thru car wash and a 24-hour mini-mart at the station on Sunset Boulevard at Via de la Paz. The decision was expected to be finalized during a City Planning Department hearing after the Palisadian-Post’s press deadline Wednesday morning. Kwak spokesman Larry Turner told the Post that the owner withdrew the appeal for the conditional use permit ‘because the community did not support it.’ Success of the appeal was ‘highly unlikely,’ according to city planning officials. In September, Associate Zoning Administrator Dan Green categorically rejected Kwak’s original application. The administrator argued that the Palisades Specific Plan, which regulates commercial development here, prohibits the construction of ‘wash racks'(a blanket term, he said, for car washes). And his decision often relied heavily on the community’s strong opposition to the project. Residents feared a sweeping array of consequences. They said that the car wash and mini-mart would add congestion to an already crowded residential street; the wash would bring burdensome noise levels to an adjacent 107-unit condominium complex and other nearby residences; car wash run-off would pollute the beach; and the around-the-clock mart would attract ‘criminal activity.’ The Palisades Community Council, the Pacific Palisades Residents Association and the adjacent condo’s residents association all opposed the plans. If approved, the 24-hour mini-mart would have occupied 1,640 sq. ft.; and the car wash, operating from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., would have been 756 sq. ft. Increased lighting would have been used, but the station’s eight gas pumps would remain. The mini-mart would not have sold alcohol. Kwak’s withdrawal has not ended the prospect of development there. To make ‘optimal use of the property,’ Kwak is looking for alternative solutions for the property, Turner told the Post. ‘The existing facility is approximately 45 years old and is considered obsolete by industry standards,’ the owner wrote. ‘In order to remain competitive in the service-station business, we will have to make a sizeable capital investment between $500,000 and $1 million to modernize our business.’ One option Kwak is exploring is to rezone the property as C-4, a much less restrictive zoning code, according to Kwak’s letter. (Of all city planning codes, C-4 is the most broad commercial zone, allowing everything from ‘adult motels’ to ‘yarn shops.’) ‘He’s trying to make a veiled threat,’ one West L.A. city planning official, who read the letter, told the Post. ‘He’s saying, ‘If you don’t like this as a gas station, [then] we might rebuild it as an office building or something else.” But Turner says that future plans for the property will be made in consultation with the community. Also, converting the gas station into anything else could be prohibitively expensive. Kwak would have to ‘pay a large penalty’ to Shell Oil, which previously owned the property, if he stops selling gas. ‘We’d like to start over and discuss where we can go,’ Turner said. ‘We want to meet in January with community leaders and discuss our options.’ Community groups, which had opposed Kwak’s plans, applauded his decision to withdraw the application; and they welcomed the owner’s more conciliatory approach. ‘I’m not taking [Kwak’s letter] as a veiled threat,’ said Barbara Kohn, president of the Pacific Palisades Residents Association, which had fought against the proposal. ‘I’m pleased that he’s willing now to open a dialogue with the community and with neighbors.’ Steve Carroll, president of the Via de la Paz Homeowners’ Association, said: ‘We were very, very pleased that he chose not to pursue the appeal. Basically, as near as I can tell, our issue is noise and traffic. What we don’t care that much about what is there as much as we do how much noise and traffic it creates.’ —– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.

No Development Currently Planned for Temescal Property

The Palisades-Malibu YMCA Executive Director Carol Pfannkuche fielded dozens of questions at the Temescal Canyon Association annual meeting Monday night: Will you build a fence or tear it down? What about building a sidewalk at the park’s entrance? Are you going to keep the ‘tacky’ signs up along Sunset? And–the question on everyone’s mind–what will you build and when will you build it? But answers were in short supply. ‘Our board has begun creating plans, but it’s very early,’ Pfannkuche said. ‘Our vision is vague. We’ve only owned it since October.’ The YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles acquired the 3.95-acre lot at entrance of Temescal Gateway Park after a 30-year legal tussle. For years, local groups like the Pacific Palisades Residents Association and No Oil, Inc. worried that when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy transferred ownership to a private entity the new owners would build on the undeveloped land or even dig for oil. (Throughout the 1990s, a consortium of petroleum officials sought rights to drill there.) This August the agreement that YMCA signed with the state prohibits oil drilling there. Now, TCA members–many of whom personally fought to preserve the canyon from becoming a driving range for golfers in the early 1970s–want to know what comes next. They wouldn’t find out Monday night. ‘The ink is barely dry on the deed!’ said Duke Ostendorf, outgoing chair of the Palisades-Malibu Y’s board. Without giving any details of future plans for the property, Pfannkuche stressed her personal commitment to making the Y ‘good stewards’ of the canyon. ‘When my [then-]six-year-old daughter went a on a hike to the waterfall, she was so amazed by the experience that she had to take all of my family to it,’ she said. ‘It’s a park that means so much to me and my family.’ Richard G. Cohen, a TCA member and vice chair of the Community Council asked, ‘Do you envision any structures?’ Pfannkuche replied: ‘Not really. We have pages and pages of restrictions–some which contradict each other. [A structure] is unlikely. Personally, I would like a bathroom that children could use, so they can wash their hands when we have the day-camp.’ Some TCA members said the Palisades-Malibu YMCA’s dependency on the Metropolitan YMCA threatened to overrule local decision-making. ‘[Metro] does hold the deed,’ Pfannkuche explained. ‘But they know that if it’s not a plan that we want, we don’t be motivated to [complete it] and raise money.’ Pfannkuche also said ‘everything that has been developed in the past [by the Metropolitan Y] is no longer under consideration.’ The most specific commitment made to TCA members Monday was to beautify the entrance to the park. Members want the Y to take down signs advertising community programs they offer. ‘Take a look a look at the Conservancy’s side of the street,’ Ostendorf said. ‘We’d mirror that.’ The park side is landscaped and has picnic ramadas and public restrooms. Pfannkuche said the Y is considering ‘more attractive signage.’ She added, ‘We recognize that’s the gateway to our community. But we want to have something that people can see from their cars.’ One-third of the local Y’s operational income comes from its current use of that parcel for summer day camps and for selling pumpkins and Christmas trees. And the Y is unlikely to do anything to interrupt that source of revenue, Pfannkuche said. ‘We recognize that the little building on Via de la Paz is not the facility that this community deserves and that we would like to have,’ she said. ‘We just don’t know where yet. My board is not wed to the idea that there will ever be a full facility at the Temescal and Sunset property.’ —– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.

Palisadians, rev up your appetites because a new bakery and eatery, Birdbath, is opening on Swarthmore in early next year. Maury Rubin, who owns the City Bakery in New York City and in Brentwood, is coming to Pacific Palisades with many of his signature offerings such as Rubin’s chocolate (hot or cold), pretzel croissants, ‘Save the Polar Bear Claws’ (a type of turnover with apricot jam) and his ‘What’s Your Carbon Footprint?’ cookie (an organic butter cookie). ‘I love this street,’ Rubin said Tuesday at his storefront at 1017 Swarthmore (between Solis Salon and Paliskates). ‘I love that it is the Farmers’ Market street.’ The store will be called Birdbath, the name Ruben gave to two smaller bakeries he has opened in New York the past two years. In addition to pastries, the fare will include savory lunch foods, pressed sandwiches, soups, pizzas and salads, and a unique beverage menu. There will be limited seating. ‘It’s intended to be a personal, neighborhood, experience,’ Rubin said. ‘We’re also planning on being open past dinnertime for people who forgot to eat their cookies earlier in the day.’ The store space, owned by the Bowinkel Trust, has been vacant since Fernworks, an antique store, closed in November 2005. An upscale food shop, Picnic, was supposed to open in 2006, but never did. Rubin signed his lease in June, but has been busy with his New York Birdbaths: one in the East Village, another in the West Village. This week his entire focus has switched to the Palisades store. ‘It’s in our interest to open as soon as we can,’ Rubin said Monday as workers began tackling the plumbing. The Swarthmore space is being designed to be eco-friendly, much like Rubin’s two other Birdbaths. ‘Building them has been a hands-on process, and we’ve learned with each one,’ Rubin said. ‘The second is greener than the first. The third one in the Palisades will be greener than the second.’ The stores in New York both use wind power, and interior materials include used wallpaper made from 49 percent recycled polyester and cork floors manufactured from the waste created when cork tops are made for wine bottles. The inside of one counter is made from recycled natural fibers (primarily blue jeans), and the walls are painted with milk paint, which consists of 99 percent food grade ingredients. One of the walls is covered with Dakota burl, a product made from sunflower seed husks, which is how Birdbath got its name. The Swarthmore store will contain some of the same green elements, but with a difference. ‘We created geographic boundaries for procuring all primary building materials at each location,’ Rubin said. ‘The basic concept is to reduce energy consumption.’ Rubin plans to use construction materials within a 500-mile radius of the Palisades and food products obtained from California. Equally important, Rubin wants to use solar energy to run the bakery. If successful, it will be one of the first solar commercial bakeries in the nation. He was complimentary of his landlords, Paul and Vickie Bowinkel. ‘They have embraced this idea and we couldn’t do it without their willingness,’ he said. The New York Birdbaths have become popular sites for school trips. ‘We’d love to have the same role here,’ Rubin said. Richard Riordan’s new restaurant and deli are set to open on Swarthmore in early January and Rubin was asked if the closeness of the two eateries could produce a conflict. ‘I think it’s exciting. The street will be reinvigorated,’ he said. ‘We come from New York and there are 50 other food businesses within a few blocks of each other. For me, the more the better.’ Birdbath will feature a tiny seating area in the front of the store, a counter, another tiny seating area, and the baking space in the rear. ‘I would love it to be a place where people come after dinner and get some cookies or pick up something for breakfast the next morning,’ Rubin said. Rubin was a television director for ABC Sports in New York. In 1980, he went on an extended vacation in France and took a pastry course. Enthused, he returned home and decided he would one day open a bakery. The City Bakery opened in 1990 and the Los Angeles store opened in the Brentwood Country Mart in February 2006. ‘I’ve been in L.A. more than New York the past two years,’ Rubin said. ‘I’m in one of our bakeries every day of the week.’ Rubin’s ‘Book of Tarts,’ which received rave reviews from critics, as well as amateur bakers, was published in 1995.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6 ‘Harvey,’ the Palisades High drama department’s fall production, opens at 3:15 p.m. in Mercer Hall on campus ($5 at the door). Additional performances are December 7 and 8 at 7 p.m., and a matinee at 2 p.m. on December 8 (tickets are $10). One World Rhythm, an interactive musical adventure sponsored by Read to Me L.A., for children of all ages, 4 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Santa Monica novelist and children’s book author Barbara Abercrombie discusses and signs ‘Courage & Craft: Writing Your Life Into Story,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. This is a nuts and bolts overview of the personal writing genre, exercises to keep the inner critic at bay, inspiration from writers who’ve been there, and practical advice for getting those words on the page and out into the world. Abercrombie teaches in the writers’ program at UCLA Extension. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho!, a Chamber of Commerce tradition featuring Santa’s annual early visit to Pacific Palisades, 5-8 p.m., in the Town Hall at Corpus Christi Church, 880 Toyopa. A complimentary gift will be handed out to each child. Santa’s line closes promptly at 8 p.m. Calvary Christian Church presents its annual Christmas Concert from 6 to 7 p.m. at the church, 701 Palisades Dr. The public is invited; admission is free. Theatre Palisades presents Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit ‘The Unexpected Guest,’ Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., through December 16 at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd. Call (310) 454-1970 for ticket information, or go to www.theatrepalisades.org. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9 Westside Waldorf School hosts a community celebration and fundraiser in support of the new traffic signal on Sunset at Los Liones Drive, 3 to 5:30 p.m. at The Outdoor Room, 17311 Sunset Blvd., across from the school. Photographer Scott Clarkson discusses and signs ‘Windows to Vietnam: A Journey in Pictures and Verse,’ 6 to 9 p.m., Village Books on Swarthmore. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 Moonday, a Monthly Westside poetry reading, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. A community reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens, 7 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Public invited. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 Holiday boutique, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted by the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. A luncheon ($10) will be available for $10, as well as homemade cakes, cookies, brownies and fudge. The Santa Monica Oceanaires ensemble will provide seasonal music at noon. Luncheon reservations: (310) 230-2792. Storytime for children of all ages, 4 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. The historical Aldersgate Retreat and Cultural Center holds an open house (5:30 p.m.), dinner and program (7 p.m.) for the community. The cost is $45. Reservations: (310) 230-9040. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12 Photographer Gil Garcetti will be guest speaker at the Palisades AARP holiday lunch, 12:30 p.m. at the Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. The public is invited. Reservations ($25): A weekly writing meeting for all 12-Step programs or anyone else with a habitual problem or illness, 7 to 8 p.m. at 16730 Bollinger. Every third Saturday there’s a three-hour writing workshop at 9 a.m., same address. Contacts: (310) 454-5138 or info@12stepsforeverybody.org. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13 The United Methodist Women’s annual Christmas Tea and Mini Bazaar, 1 p.m. in Gabrielson Hall, 801 Via de la Paz. The bazaar is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Public invited. ‘Green Your Holiday’ meeting, sponsored by the Palisades Cares Eco Network, 6:30 p.m. at Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, 15150 Sunset. Discussion will focus on having an eco-conscious holiday season. Green gifts will be displayed from Pharmaca, Klean Kanteen, Greenopia and others. Organic eggnog will be served. Contact: Marie Steckmest at 459-1614. Pacific Palisades Community Council’s annual Community Service Award meeting, 7 p.m. in the dining hall at Temescal Gateway Park, preceded by a holiday potluck dinner. Public invited. Mark Frost, author of ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ and ‘Grand Slam,’ discusses and signs ‘The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever,’ 7:30 p.m., Village Books on Swarthmore. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 Music of the Season by J.S. Bach, presented by the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and the St. Matthew’s Choir, 8 p.m. in the sanctuary, 1031 Bienveneda. Admission at the door: $25.