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VENICE NC - The newly formed Ad Hoc Committee by the Venice Neighborhood Council met for the first time on January 10th to an audience of about 40 or so residents and stakeholders as a schedule of future meetings had already been planned along with a “draft” preference survey that was distributed to those in attendance.
The Ad Hoc Committee known as the CP/LCP consists of nine members chaired by Naomi Nightingale and four members of the Venice Land Use Planning Committee or LUPC, and two former LUPC chairs in Robin Rudisill and Alix Gucovsky.
The total membership of the committee is Nightingale, Gucovsky, VNC Secretary Tima Bell, Mark Mack, Richard Stanger, Robin Rudisill, Edward Ferrer, Frank Murphy and Steve Williams.
Sean Silva, the Venice Deputy for Councilwoman Traci Park of CD-11 was also in attendance.
Some have questioned with so many members of LUPC serving on this Ad Hoc, was the formation of such a subcommittee redundant or necessary?
DONE, the governing city agency prevented this committee from initially meeting along with LUPC due to issues of conflicts that have since been resolved.
Sources tell Yo! Venice that fundamental policy conflicts between VNC LUPC Chair Michael Jensen and those appointed to this Ad Hoc Committee were the reason for the formation of another new committee.
Jensen, who had served in an appointed fashion to an unexpired term and was elected last year by stakeholders in the 2023 March election directly serves the electorate while the other members of LUPC are appointed by the VNC.
Members of this new Ad Hoc are also appointed, and not elected and serve strictly in a temporary and advisory capacity.
Nevertheless, Nightingale entertained questions from the audience regarding the draft survey as well as the schedule of meetings that were offered. The survey and future meeting dates are in response to the proposed Venice Community Plan which was described as 110 pages and 560 different policy initiatives.
The survey is being distributed to an email list the VNC has accumulated over time and the last substantial survey that was conducted was in 2019 when the VNC’s Outreach Committee conducted a general interest survey on the issues of homelessness, traffic and the overall effectiveness of the neighborhood council and the office of CD-11 that at the time was represented by former LA Councilmember Mike Bonin.
While it was emphasized the survey was a work in progress, the questions included where in Venice you reside, are you a homeowner or renter, the maximum number of floors you prefer, maximum square feet, number of living units, lot coverage, required parking spaces, support or opposition to roof decks, types of yard walls or fencing, construction of multi-family units, future development of Oceanfront Walk, and other questions on climate change and the likability of one’s neighborhood.
Future meetings would be scheduled at the Library beginning at 6:00 PM and ending at 7:45 PM (The Library closes at 8 PM).
The impact of the proposed Venice Community Plan would be broken down by specific neighborhoods for discussion and feedback:
- January 24th – East Venice
- January 31st – Southeast Venice & Oxford Triangle
- February 7th – Southwest Venice & Venice Canals
- February 12th – North Venice
- February 21st – Marina Peninsula East & Marina Peninsula West
- February 26th – Oakwood & Milwood
- March 4th – Oceanfront Walk
- March 10th – Abbot Kinney Boulevard
The surveys are scheduled to be sent in mid-January and returned by January 31st.
The timeline offered would be a review of information with the public come April and a specific recommendation to the Venice Neighborhood Council and potential action by the board come May.
A motion to revise and amend the proposed questions was made, but no public comment was offered and no committee vote was called.
In other committee comment, local builder and former VNC Homelessness Committee Chair Frank Murphy stated he did not have any input in the formulation of the survey presented while fellow committee member Richard Stanger disagreed which led to a brief, but heated conversation upon adjournment.
It was unclear who authored the survey questions proposed since this was the first actual meeting of this newly constituted Ad Hoc. But Nightingale assured those in attendance that this was a first draft and residents could suggest and offer additional questions, revision, and new language for consideration.
The meeting ended at roughly 8PM.
(Nick Antonicello is a 31-year resident of Venice and covers the deliberations of the Venice Neighborhood Council. Have a take or a tip on all things Venice? Contact him via e-mail at [email protected].)
