How it's Supposed to Work

A comment from a recent post led directly to this posting. Thank you, Anonymous (A.K.) for the great question.

Mr Katnic wants to know how the process works.

Before I get into what always seems to be a really long post, please go back into the archives and look at a posting I wrote dated September 23, titled "Influence".

Welcome back. Now I am going to try to explain, in my words and by my thinking, how the process works.

Mr. Bisno and the Bisno Development Corporation want to build 2,300 homes on 61.53 acres of land that formerly housed military families. He bought the property and had his staff plan a community and all that goes into his vision. Now what does he do?

Mr. Bisno had options on how to get his project through all the departments and decision makers. Mr. Bisno's ultimate goal is a vote in his favor by the majority of members of the fifteen-member Los Angeles City Council, who will pass an ordinance changing the current zoning to whatever zoning is agreed to by the L.A. City Planning Department and Planning Commission.

Mr. Bisno has chosen the "Specific Plan" approach. This approach is expensive for him to fund but it does allow him certain entitlements other developers may not choose because they have chosen a different approach.

The "Specific Plan" approach allows Mr. Bisno great access to the Planning Department and other entities, but it also places on him requirements that are costly. In essence, he is paying to take cuts and receive prompter action. This type of approach is done all the time for many developments.

What does Mr. Bisno get? Access seems to be the best word I can use. Mr. Bisno has L.A. City Planners working directly on his project. He is paying for that access. Mr. Bisno gets to "go to the head of the line" in the many applications processes. He is paying for that, too. Mr. Bisno needs community input from the general public for this type of process. He pays for that.
Mr. Bisno has groups of citizens who support his objectives and are not as objective as our committee is. Again, he pays for that.

Up front, Mr. Bisno is paying a lot more money to get his approach through the process. Does this mean he is going to get what he wants???? Please continue.

One of the requirements for the "Specific Plan" approach is public input. Janice Hahn, along with Mr. Bisno called for a "Community Advisory Task Force" made up of interested local citizens to assist them through the process. I am a member of what is now known as the "Community Advisory Committee for the Ponte Vista Project." Our committee is charged with being the eyes, ears, and mouths for the public input to Ms. Hahn and the Planning Department regarding the project. We are to learn what we can, receive all comments, opinions, and guidance from the public and come up with recommendations for the Councilwoman and the Planning Department regarding this project. Does anybody have to listen to us? Like I in another post, that depends on you. The more of you that support our process and our recommendations, the better chance the decision makers are to use them.

One thing that is unique about this particular committee and venture is that Ms. Hahn actively sought input from those of us who live in Rancho Palos Verdes. The closest front door of a single-family home, to anything built in Ponte Vista is not in San Pedro. It is in R.P.V.

Mr. Bisno becomes, in essence, "The Applicant" by submitting an application for a zoning change to the L.A. City Planning Department. When the government auctioned off the land, it established it as R-1 zoning. R-1 zoning means nine homes per acre. Mr. Bisno must have a zoning change for him to begin to build his vision of Ponte Vista. Mr. Bisno is seeking to move the property from "low density" zoning of nine homes per acre, to "medium density" zoning for up to 55 homes per acre. Mr. Bisno is paying for the services of members of the L.A. City Planning Department to work directly on his project.

Right now, the L.A. City Planning Department is the biggest decision maker in the process. They will analyze every single thing concerning the project. They are mandated to take recommendations from many sources, including our committee, other interest groups and the general public, and review them. The Planning Department will be the ones who re-draft, if you will, Mr. Bisno's Specific Plan that he has authored.

After all the surveys, studies, impact reports, human input, and fact-finding is completed, the Planning Department will draft a Specific Plan for the project. This Specific Plan may look nothing like what Mr. Bisno wants, or it could be exactly what Mr. Bisno wants. We don't know yet what it will look like, but the Traffic Study will have probably the most impact on what the Planning Department finally decides to recommend.

A Specific Plan is recommended by the City Planning Department to the L.A. City Planning Commission. The Planning Commission will study the plan and can accept it, reject it, or have it changed. Here is another area where public input is vital to the project's fate. Our committee's work will be long done by the time the Specific Plan hits the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is supposed to take into account the general welfare of the public when making decisions concerning projects. This will be another time for great debate; picketing, protesting, whatever it takes, ON ALL SIDES OF THE ISSUE.

If the L.A. City Planning Commissions approves a project, it then moves to the L.A. City Council.

The City Council has members that serve on a committee within the Council to advise the various departments and the Council itself. The City decision makers will draft an ordinance, which is a law, to change the zoning of the land from what it is now, to what the Planning Commission approved. A majority of the fifteen members of the City Council must vote in favor of the ordinance, I believe on two readings, for the zoning change to become law.

The history of the L.A. City Council suggests that other members of the Council vote the way the council member votes when the development is in that particular district. Ms. Hahn has publicly stated that she is opposed to 2,300 homes within Ponte Vista.

Mr. Bisno is also paying for the "Specific Plan" process knowing that we all have an "800 ton Gorilla" on our backs. I feel Mr. Bisno is paying to speed up his processes so the "Gorilla" won't have a better chance of hovering over all of us. The "Gorilla" is a proposed 2,025 seat senior high school within the Ponte Vista Site. L.A.U.S.D. would be required to sue Mr. Bisno under the right of eminent domain to purchase 15.03 acres of Mr. Bisno's property to build the school. Mr. Bisno has stated that; a. he doesn't want such a large school, b. he believes that L.A.U.S.D. doesn't really want to build the school on the site, and c. he would be willing to talk to L.A.U.S.D. about placing a much smaller school within Ponte Vista. Mr. Bisno also is paying to defend against access by the L.A.U.S.D. onto his property.

We, the public have ample opportunities throughout the many processes to voice our opinions. We can write to Ms. Hahn, the CC members in Rancho Palos Verdes and surrounding communities. We can write to the Planning Department and the Planning Commission. We can protest for whatever side of the issue we believe in.

You've read this far, so you are concerned with what happens at Ponte Vista. I encourage you to join, comment, share, and be involved with a project and process you have already devoted time to by reading this post. I thank you for the read