CRESCENTA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL
General
Meeting Minutes
August
18, 2005
Call
to Order 7:00 p.m.
Adjourned
9:52 p.m.
1.
Call to Order - President Hales
Scout
Leader Brent Reed, and seven Scouts, with additional Scout Leader Jim Berk,
addressed the Council and audience. Jamboree
tour covered many historical sites, including the Capitol and met with
Congressmen Drier and Schiff.
Present
Absent
Councilmember
Andrus
Councilmember Lunt
Councilmember
Beatty
Councilmember
Erickson
Councilmember
Ostler
Councilmember
Raghavchary
Councilmember
Rawlins
Councilmember
Smiley
Councilmember
Thomas
Councilmember
Toyon
President Hales
2.
Acknowledgement of Officials and Guests
Former CVTC Member Sharon Martin
3.
Approval of Minutes of CVTC General Meeting on July 21, 2005
Motion
to approve minutes made by Councilmember Erickson, seconded by Councilmember
Beatty, passed unanimously
4.
Guest Speaker
Los Angeles County Fire Department, Ramsdell Station number 63
Captain
Gussman, and two additional firemen, attended and discussed the local battalion
which includes seven stations. Brush
clearance in the canyons has been almost complete.
Brush fires apply extra stress on fire departments because they have to
deal with these in addition to their regular duties.
Homes with brush clearance will be easier to save then those without.
There is a fireman available to come to individual houses to give tips on
what to plant on hillsides that is drought tolerant.
5.
Comments from Officials
Board
approved site acquisition for La Crescenta Library Project.
Sandwich boards are not allowed on the boulevard per county ordinance and
the merchants have removed them. Paving
on Montrose Avenue must be a joint effort with the City of Glendale.
Nine
non-injury collisions occurred in July. Please
be patient around the schools. Extra
officers will be around everywhere over the Labor Day weekend.
Make sure the vehicle is in good shape before your trip.
This is the last meeting he will attend as he has been promoted to air
patrol. Officer Saul Velasquez will
be taking his place.
Programs
are doing well and the Friends are looking forward to the One Day Super Sale on
September 17th. As of
September 19th, library will be open six days a week, 11-8 Mon.,
Tue., Wed., 11-6 Thu., 11-5 Fri., 12-5 Sat.
September
14th Tri Chamber Business Expo at Verdugo Hills Hospital
CV
Meets the X Files – Tujunga Canyon Alien Abduction – meeting September 19th
Meeting
August 22nd - Montrose library to discuss local architecture.
Six
to seven million gallons of water per day are being used with 20% more well
water than a year ago. The district is still purchasing expensive water,
approximately 50-50 now. There have
been rebates for water sensitive timers with a total of 12 as of today.
There needs to be a cleaning of the sewer system done to clear away roots
and debris. Board of Directors
elections are not needed due to filing only made by three incumbents.
This saves $40,000.
6.
Public Comments
Mike
Lawler- La Crescenta- Concerned about explosion of multi-famliy housing in
La Crescenta, especially in Montrose. Ask
the Council to find solutions and recommend to the Supervisor to slow this down.
Councilmember
Raghavachary: Information presented
about zoning. Florencita property
was approved in 2002 and no zoning changes were made.
Bill
Stewart – lives near Florencita, doesn’t object to the building.
Albert
Guthrie – Montrose, condos with no place to park.
Cars don’t fit in the garage. His
home is too small to be built into an apartment.
However, it appears that he is
being crowded out.
Councilmember
Raghavachary: Since there is down
zoning in Glendale, the county was asked to look at this in La Crescenta. The county felt it wasn’t significant enough to deal with,
although to the individual it is significant.
Stuart
Byles – Asked the Council to ask the County to look into down zoning
regardless of what they feel the benefits are.
Historical overlay may be considered.
Mass of allowable cut from 3 stories to 2 stories, greater set backs and
landscape requirements. There
should be requirements notification of 500 feet before plans are approved.
Barbara
Hannagan – Owns home built in 1931 and restored it.
There is a Sunland-Tujunga ordinance limiting houses to
2400 square feet or 40% of property.
Encouraged the Council to work toward keeping our “jewel.”
Michael
Morgan – St. Francis graduate. Montrose
was a tract as a rose with single family homes and duplexes.
David
Wright – Florencita resident, constant parking problems from Montrose Avenue
before multi-family units. There
are also too many people in the units.
Eileen
Walsh – Regarding historical properties, what makes them historical and what
is the fall out for those properties?
Answers
from Stuart Byles: Tax benefits. Has to be done by the property owner. Owner can refuse. Built
prior to 1937.
Jann
Buss – Florencita resident – parking in the last year has been absurd.
Building at corner of Montrose and Ocean View (block below), where are
they going to park? Need to have
two parking per unit.
Councilmember
Raghavachary: one parking space per
bedroom.
Elmer
Art – lives near the Sheriff’s station and has constant parking issues.
Ryan
Nelson – Montrose – Hearing about turning apartments into condos?
Councilmember
Raghavachary: Council has not been informed about that issue.
Ryan
Nelson - Landscaping requirements?
Councilmember
Raghavachary: no
Ryan Nelson - Who monitors their set backs?
Councilmember Raghavachary: Building
and safety.
Stuart
Byles: Inspector makes sure that
the approved plans are adhered too.
Councilmember
Smiley: People on Fairway are going through the same thing.
Councilmember Smiley encouraged the residents to write their own letters
and agrees to the need to down zone.
Vaskin
Yardemian, Crescenta Valley Water District, cannot deny water or sewer
connections by law. To answer the
question of what would the impact be for multiple family dwellings, the district
engineer can estimate future water use.
President
Hales: Council was asked to write a
letter to the County. Requested
Stuart Byles to reiterate what he wishes us to ask.
Ernie
Labrie – parked autos are not only the people living there but people from
other areas parking there for commuter bus from 6:30 AM-6:30 PM.
Almost every week someone parks in his driveway.
Suggested enacting restricted parking on Montrose Avenue with permit
parking for residents. BFI has
large cans and there is no place to put them due to parking issue.
Councilmember
Beatty – Council needs to confirm which sections of Montrose are being
discussed to ensure they are part of unincorporated Montrose.
Motion
by Councilmember Raghavachary – Letter to be written to Supervisor Antonovich
expressing concerns of residents of unincorporated Montrose regarding
multi-family housing. Seconded by
Councilmember Erickson – Passed unanimously.
Letter
will be reviewed at the Executive Meeting.
The Council can also assist the residents in setting up an appointment
for community leaders to explain their concerns to the planning department.
7.
Items from Council
President
Hales made the following statement,
“In
response to a suggestion from Supervisor Antonovich’s office, and in order to
address the periodic need for the Crescenta Valley Town Council to hold public
forums regarding potential land use, I move that Crescenta Valley Town Council
Land use Meetings be conduced on an as-needed basis, at a time to be determined
by the President of the Crescenta Valley Town Council.
“These
shall not be committee meetings, but rather Land Use portions of regular CVTC
General Meetings, conducted by the CVTC President and attended by five CVTC
members.
“I
also move that a CVTC Land Use Committee be formed, including a chair-appointed
by the CVTC President-and at least one other CVTC member, to conduct and present
relevant research at CVTC Land Use Meetings.
“No
motions shall be made or passed at CVTC Land Use Meetings, but rather a synopsis
of public sentiment shall be recorded and sent to Supervisor Antonovich’s
office.”
This
motion was seconded by Councilmember Rawlins.
Upon
discussion, Councilmember Beatty motioned to add the words “an ad hoc” to
the motion so it would read, “… I also move that an
ad hoc CVTC Land Use Committee be formed, including a chair….”
This motion was seconded by Councilmember Erickson and passed five to
four.
Upon
discussion, Councilmember Erickson motioned to add the words “at least” to
the motion so it would read, “… conducted by the CVTC President and attended
by at least five CVTC members.”
This motion was seconded by Councilmember Rawlins and passed unanimously.
Upon
discussion, Councilmember Andrus motioned to change the motion by making the
last line read as follows, “…but
rather a synopsis of public sentiment shall be recorded and presented at the
following General Town Council Meeting and sent to Supervisor Antonovich’s
office.” This motion was seconded by Councilmember Beatty and passed
unanimously.
The
motion, made by President Hales, as changed, reads as follows:
“I moved that Crescenta Valley Town Council Land Use Meetings be
conducted on an as-needed basis, at a time to be determined by the President of
the Crescenta Valley Town Council. These
shall not be committee meetings, but rather Land Use portions of regular CVTC
General Meetings, conducted by the CVTC President and attended by at least five
CVTC members. I also move that an
ad hoc CVTC Land Use Committee be formed, including a chair-appointed by the
CVTC President-and at least on other CVTC member, to conduct and present
relevant research at CVTC Land Use Meetings.
No motions shall be made or passed at CVTC Land Use Meetings, but rather
a synopsis of public sentiment shall be recorded and presented at the following
General Town Council Meeting and sent to Supervisor Antonovich’s office.” This motion was seconded by Councilmember Beatty and passed
unanimously.
President
Hales nominated Councilmember Raghavachary as chairperson of CVTC Land Use
Committee.
Councilmembers
Erickson, Beatty, and Smiley, will also be on this Committee.
8.
Committee Reports
There
will be a meeting for revision of the building standards.
Freeway
off ramp sign design presented by Councilmember Toyon, motion to accept this
design and give it to Cal Trans made by Sharon Raghavachary, Seconded by
Councilmember Rawlins, passed unanimously.
Suggestion made to meet with the Chamber to review the design.
Committee
will be meeting tomorrow for a tour of new libraries at 8 AM.
There
have been consistent hits to the website.
Outreach meeting was held on July 26th with Korean student.
The general sentiment given by the Chan Won Park was that Korean culture
does not lend itself to the residents meeting with the Council to discuss their
needs.
President
Hales reported that the Executive Meeting will be a dry run for televising
Council meetings.
Justin
Schmitz
does traffic and lighting for
the County and conducted a study of the traffic on Orange and El Adobe by Monte
Vista Elementary. There is no
sidewalk that reaches crosswalk. Kids
had to walk around a parked car to get to the sidewalk. There was a red zone
installed with a crossing guard to fix the problem.
The
idea of installing a flashing beacon at Briggs and Mountain Avenues was studied
and pedestrian volume was well below the minimum criteria for this project.
It
was found that there will be no speed bumps on Prospect by La Crescenta
Elementary. There will be an
increase in enforcement by California Highway Patrol.
Regarding
Freemont Avenue, there was no real solution or need to change current parking
regulations. There will be a discussion regarding this street with the fire
department.
There
will be a follow up by Councilmember Ostler regarding the parking on Montrose
Avenue on the corner of Ocean View Blvd.
There
was a social worker called in to help a female resident of La Crescenta.
There was a request for a donation to held send a girl’s softball team
to Washington DC. The Council
declines at this time.
9.
Correspondence - Councilmember
Raghavachary
None
10.
Treasurer’s Report - Councilmember
Erickson
Filed for audit.
11.
Announcements
12.
Adjournment