VOICES - “Forget the Area Planning Commissions” … that’s what Dennis Zine is set to tell developers on Tuesday.
Reporting that he “heard the community’s concerns and acted” to prevent a small act of inappropriate development, the Councilman hailed “the bucolic and agrarian quality of life of Walnut Acres that makes it such a unique jewel in the West Valley,” and promised that “if a neighborhood is unified and committed I will always advocate protecting them with very little hesitation.”
But that was then. That was Dennis Zine in 2004 in his own newsletter. And he continued to offer years more of unconditional support to Walnut Acres’ efforts to preserve the neighborhood from inconsistent development and commercialization.
In short, Dennis Zine became our superhero. And Zine’s planning deputy, Jonathan Brand, now working for Councilman Tom LaBonge, was Walnut Acres’ angel. No surprise, we enthusiastically supported Councilman Zine in his reelection bids.
So, why would Councilman Zine want to squander all this good will, especially as he seeks election to another city office?
At Tuesday’s Council meeting, he will make the unprecedented move to green-light a commercial eldercare institution in the middle of Walnut Acres, surrounded by single-family residences.
In doing so he will ignore the near-unanimous conclusion of the South Valley Area Planning Commission (staffed by members put forth by Zine himself) that this project is too massive and too out-of-character with a neighborhood known for backyards filled with horses, goats, chickens, orchards, large vegetable gardens, and even a peacock or two.
Zine will take this action well-aware of the “unified and committed” opposition of not only Walnut Acres but myriad other District 3 homeowner associations. And he will attempt to pull off this move after sneaking it onto the Council agenda at the last minute with absolutely no notice to his constituents.
But Walnut Acres is not just one remote corner of Los Angeles under siege. Ever since the city quietly handed developers the opportunity to construct massive eldercare institutions on residential property, without the expense of rezoning or the higher cost of commercial property, the Planning Department has been inundated with these projects.
Developers facing a dried-up market for apartments and condos can’t get into the commercial eldercare business fast enough. And zoning administrators have been all too happy to oblige – “the bigger the better.” One ZA even approved a 256-bed institution smack dab in the middle of a Tarzana residential neighborhood.
Only the Area Planning Commissions have listened to reason, fulfilling their role under the City Charter to bring planning decisions closer to the affected areas. Time and again they have sided with neighborhood groups seeking to uphold the law.
Even this small relief will end on Tuesday, as the will of the people and the rule of law … both set to be stomped upon by autocratic, bare-knuckled political forces. Developers must be salivating in anticipation. The Area Planning Commissions will become a joke. Every neighborhood in Los Angeles will be vulnerable to City Council-approved commercial eldercare development.
Forget the rules. Forget the standards. Forget constituents. Hail to more “pay to play.”
Councilman Zine, if you truly believe the SVAPC misapplied the standards when it determined that a massive eldercare institution did not belong in a “bucolic and agrarian” neighborhood that is a “unique jewel of the West Valley,” then let the process play out fairly. Let the developer present its case to the courts. Let the judges do their job, and keep your promise as an elected official to “always advocate protecting” your constituents.
There is still time to become again the Superhero of Walnut Acres.
(Donna Schuele is the co-founder and former president of the Walnut Acres Neighborhood Association. She has served as the spokesperson for Walnut Acres residents fighting an eldercare institution proposed for the neighborhood. She can be reached at [email protected].)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 61
Pub: July 31, 2012