County LCP Expected to Get Green Light from Planning Commission

• Recommendation Would Result in Documents Going to Board

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission is expected to recommend approval of the county’s proposed Local Coastal Program at its meeting this week, after The News goes to press.

“My expectation is they will vote to approve the LCP,” said Gina Natoli, the acting section head of the regional planning department, who has headed up the LCP process.

The commission met in January to consider the LCP, but voted to put the matter on this week’s consent calendar. “They had not taken a vote, but rather decided to bring it back,” added Natoli.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors. That meeting date is uncertain. “I think it will take a couple of months before it will be placed on the agenda and considered by the board,” said the planning department spokesperson, who indicated the board, if it approves the LCP, would give a tentative approval before the matter is submitted to the California Coastal Commission for consideration.

“We may get to the Coastal Commission by the end of the year, but I don’t expect the commission to consider it until next year,” Natoli added.

The county planner explained there would be the usual give and take between the county and the commission staffs before the LCP was certified by the coastal panel.

Natoli said there were six issues still under consideration based on the commission’s direction at the meeting in January, such as prohibiting off-road biking trails, refining the definition of agriculture, allowing clustering of residential development, designating the Piuma area as a significant watershed, and prohibiting the hardscaping of streams.

The county, in its LCP, should prohibit culverts, bank modifications and dip crossings because of the potential damage to downstream resources, according to planners, Natoli elaborated.

The staff also acknowledged the 400 acres of land along Piuma Road extending from the Backbone Trail corridor should be defined as a significant watershed.

Additionally, planners agreed that density-controlled development or clustering should be allowed in the new R-C zone subject to conditions that further minimize their impact.

The commission staff also agreed that, to avoid confusion, the definition of agriculture in the LCP should be revised to include the raising and keeping of horses. To eliminate confusion, the section should more accurately reflect policy about crops rather than the more inclusive term agriculture.

Planners also agreed that mountain biking should only be allowed on the regional trail system because off-trail activities can have negative impacts on resources.

The planning department staff brought up seven additional issues that have arisen during public testimony and believed them to be important enough to address.

Those included: Exclusions from the definition of environmentally sensitive habitat areas, refining the definition of ESHAs, explaining the transition from Coastal Commission control of coastal permits to county control, stressing the importance of horses and boarding in the Santa Monica Mountains and the discussion about on-site disposal of animal wastes, among other issues.

The staff conceded that given the testimony from several individuals that the LCP does not adequately acknowledge the history and cultural role of horses in the Santa Monicas, planners should recognize the important role horses have had and continue to have in the mountains and recommended adding additional policy language.

The language would read, “Provide opportunities for horsekeeping, and equestrian-oriented activities and recreation in order to preserve these historic uses in the Santa Monica Mountains.”