Odds And Ends 198

So, how is everyone doing on reading the Ponte Vista Draft Environmental Impact Report, (DEIR)?

Are you making notes about what you wish to comment on? I sure hope you are and using the notes to create a fantastic set of comments, to the report.

I'm still trying to figure out what is going on with the new lane striping along Western Avenue between Avenida Aprenda and 19th Street.

by looking at the temporary lane (plastic reflective) markings and the short dashes of yellow and white lines which may be the route for the yellow and white stripes, it sure looks like the center lanes in both directions will be narrower than they were before resurfacing AND narrower than what is required for a State Highway Lane.

If it passes that those little dashes become actual lane markings, the outer lanes will be very, very wide.

If you look at the short white dashes as they get close to the intersection of Western Avenue and Avenida Aprenda, they seem to veer to the right to make better alignment with the permanent lane markings along Western Avenue, north of Avenida Aprenda. It looks pretty much the same on southbound Western Avenue, close to 19th Street.

With the center lanes so narrow and the outer lanes so wide, just imagine all those drivers who will create their own 'third lane' near the curb and I think we will see lots of problems when the curb 'lane' has vehicles moving in it faster than those who are moving closer to the lane lines, along Western.

This might be something that you should check and recheck your vehicle insurance coverage on.

State Highway lanes must be wider than lanes on County or City roadways. This is one of the reasons Western Avenue has not had a full third lane added already.

The Western Avenue Task Force, in its report from 2005 has a suggestion that Western Avenue need to become three-lanes wide by 2030. This would take much study and some changes in laws and regulations for State Highways, with Western Avenue being one in particular.

A meeting concerning the Final Report for The Clearwater Program was scheduled for today. I received my CD of that report the same day I also got my hands on the new DEIR for Ponte Vista.

The Clearwater Program's proposed Alternative 4 is to construct a new Joint Outfall System, a tunnel between the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, (JWPCP) in Carson and an distribution piping system out into San Pedro Bay at Royal Palms.

The proposed route for the new tunnel will enter San Pedro along Gaffey Street, turn west at Capitol, turn south along Western at Capitol/Trudie, go under Averill Park and head out to sea, following must of the Western Avenue route of the two existing tunnels that have been under Western for decades.

At Royal Palms, a deep 'Exit Shaft' will be sunk at the bottom of the cliff and there will be many, many, many double-dirt hauler trips between the dig's site and out of San Pedro.

If you think there are problems right now at 25th and Western or on other streets intersecting Western Avenue, 'you ain't seen nothing yet'!

I expect that the proposed Alternative will be ultimately approved. it is the least cost of the construction Alternatives and is proposed to be half of what it would cost to put the Exit Shaft and Access Shafts on Terminal Island, close to rail access, freeway access and having no residences nearby, except for the prison and the Coast Guard base...oh well.

I have not heard yet of any new meetings by the many concerned with the number of units proposed for Ponte Vista. I'm still a proponent of the Alternative that allows for NO building on the site, complete removal of all existing structures and the POSSIBLE construction of up to 429 single-family detached homes. However, I still have to state that I could probably live with no more than 850 housing units on the site.

I made the original badges that showed a red circle with a red line on a diagonal with the number '2300' behind it. I still have enough button blanks to start working on NO 1135 badges.

Have a great beginning of December!

Wait, Wait, There's More

I hope everyone is studying and mulling over your thoughts regarding the issues revolving around The Ponte Vista Project and your contemplations on what comments you are going to submit on that project's new Draft Environmental Impact Report.

But during your concentration, you may want to add some thoughts to another project that is being worked on, not all that far from the Ponte Vista Site.

Marymount College has an off-campus housing facility on Palos Verdes Drive North, between Western Avenue and 5-Points and here is a notice of a public hearing dealing with what Marymount officials and supporters want to do with the site they have been associated with, for some years now.

Click On Image To Enlarge It.

I have only posted the first page of the notice because I feel it is enough information for those interested and if folks want more information, they are able to find it out for themselves.

When you read what this project entails, please keep in mind what the developers of The Ponte Vista Project want and the four Alternatives dealt with in Ponte Vista's DEIR.

Besides Ponte Vista and Marymount's off-campus housing site, the new small lot houses along Gaffey Street are still being built. The largely uninhabited housing at 5-Points is still nearby and there are going to be a small number of large homes built along Palos Verdes Drive North, near its intersection with Palos Verdes Drive East.

Housing development is moving forward in what can be described as a small area that has not seen much residential development in quite some time.

Add to the housing, the new(er) schools and the new educational, parking and site concerns at Marymount's 'Palos Verdes North' site, we are all looking at more development in the area than has been done in decades.

I hope interested individuals and groups will look at 'the big picture' in terms of residential and other types of development and work to find ways to mitigate traffic concerns we all have and work to finding the best results for EVERYONE.

I will create a post soon that will lean towards pushing for Alternative B for The Ponte Vista Project and if this notice helps you and others to consider more carefully how much development at Ponte Vista is best for everyone, I think that is a good thing.

This Is Where I Begin Again

 The new Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for "The Ponte Vista Project" has been published and the (currently) 60-day review and public comment period has begun.

Everyone interested in any part of the project and/or its impacts on communities is encouraged to learn what they wish to learn about the project and submit comments for review.

Case Number: ENV-2005-4516-EIR

The comment period for review is from November 8, 2012 and (currently) ending on January 7, 2013

Please direct your written comments to:

Erin Strelich, Planning Assistant
Los Angeles Department of City Planning
200 N. Spring Street, Room 750
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Telephone Number: (213) 978-1343

Email: erin.strelich@lacity.org

Copies of the documents can be found at local libraries and there will be public hearings noticed and held, during the review period.

The DEIR is also available online at:

http://cityplanning.lacity.org On the left side of the homepage, scroll down to "Environmental" and under that icon, look for and click on "Draft EIR". Look for "Ponte Vista Project" click on that and you will go to access portals for the DEIR documents.

The applicant for the project is SFI Bridgeview, LLC. 'Bridgeview' is the English translation of Ponte Vista (Italian).

The NEW project consists of FOUR 'Alternatives'. I will provide an illustration for each and some facts and comments under each illustration.

Alternative A 

Alternative A is the 'No Project' alternative that is required for all projects.

Simply put, this alternative states that nothing will happen to the property, no development will occur and the site will remain as it looks today and it will continue to deteriorate into the future. 

Alternative B

Alternative B, as described in the DEIR is also a 'No Project' alternative, with a couple of twists.

If Alternative B is approved, the current applicant or another party would strip the site of all buildings and other structures and leave the property with its current 'R1-1XL' and open space zoning.

This Alternative allows for the applicant or another party to build up to 429 single-family, detached housing dwelling on lots of not less than 5,000 square feet in area.

When you hear "R 1", this is what the lots would be illustrated like. You will hear lots of comments about this alternative, both positive and negative. It would be a very, very long shot to have this alternative adopted, but it could happen.

Alternative C

Click on image to enlarge it. 

This is the alternative proposed by the Staff of L.A. City Planning.

It allow for '830' dwelling units and appears to be gaining favor by some in the general public.

It offers less dwelling density than found in The Gardens and because there is no direct vehicle traffic to Gaffey Street for folks who will live and work at Ponte Vista, this might just be what is approved of, down the road.

Alternative D 

Click on image to enlarge it

This is the alternative that the project's developers want to see approved.

It is the 1,135-unit project. It does have some type and size differences than we have seen in previous illustrations and documents from the new development team.

Since the dwelling unit density is greater than found at The Gardens, along with Western Avenue being the only access in and out of Ponte Vista, as well as some other reasons that I will comment on down the road, I do not support this alternative and suggest and hope you also find 1,135-units to be too many for Ponte Vista.

Major problems still loom for the developers and the community and finding and implementing solutions to those problems must come first, before any approvals are provided.

However, I feel there are two alternatives that should be more carefully studied and compared to each other so we can find the best outcome for our communities and for the new neighbors we will welcome at Ponte Vista.

I think we need to drop Alternatives A and D from much of the discussion and focus on comparing and approving either Alternative B or Alternative C.

We need to understand what folks said all the way back in 2005; Something needs to be built on the site. Whether is it vacant land, 429 upscale single-family houses or up to 830-units of multiple types, I feel it is about time we all band together and get something completed on the 61.53 acre site.

For those continuing to demand R1, I can certainly live with that. I do not believe our communities have mandates to provide housing to too many people in an area where traffic is such a concern and where the location is near refineries and storage tanks. 

In future posts, I will work on dealing with public access through the site rather than having a gated community at Ponte Vista. I think there is compromise on all sides that should allow for access to Mary Star High School and for visitors to the area.

Traffic. There, I wrote it again in this new era for Ponte Vista.

For more reasons than found in the DEIR, there has been not enough consideration with Ponte Vista and other developments in the nearby area, all having great impact on traffic and congestion.

There has not been and still nothing reasonable exists that deals with both the impact on traffic by Ponte Vista's development and the greatly expanded residential wishes by Marymount College via their Palos Verdes North off-campus housing and future teaching site.

While enrollment at Rolling Hills Prep seems to not be increasing as much as previously considered, we could find many more students on that site, as well.

I noted in a comment to my last post that yesterday also brought to my mailbox the Final EIS/EIR and Master Facilities Plan for The Clearwater Program of The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.

It is true that this project will progress well into the future and be underground for almost all the way from Carson to the Pacific Ocean, there will be some overland impacts and if something terrible happens during tunnel construction, I hope there is mitigation for that.

So it begins...again. It's back on...finally.

Your comments and inputs are welcome and you may constructs posts to the comments section and also write a post yourself, on this blog.

It's time to stop reading everything else and head into the DEIR. Happy reading, if that is possible.

Thank you.

FINALLY...IT'S HERE!!!!

In today's mail, I received two copies of the new Draft Environmental Impact Report for Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

I got them the same day as the release date of the documents to the public.

It's now 4:00 AM on Friday morning and I just got home for an overnight shoot for a T.V. pilot, so I will get into the new EIR and start posting some items, later on during the day.

The wait was very long and now it is over!