Growth and Planning

Re “A Growth Plan Run Amok,” Dec. 27.

Like a fresh breeze, T. Christian Miller’s feature article was welcome news to those folks in and around the Las Virgenes Valley who have long realized the significant impacts created by countless amendments to the Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains interim area plan of 1981. Thanks in large part to this article and the earlier thesis work of Melanie Beck, a strong case can be made that the excesses of development in the past can only be remedied by restraint in the future.

The draft Ventura Corridor Area Plan currently before county Regional Planning is a 20-year planning document designed to protect the remaining open space in the Santa Monica Mountains (outside the coastal zone) by requiring future development to “fit the land.” But developer interests may gut this new area plan before it is even adopted. Only through a vocal citizenry and strong political will from those municipal agencies who sponsored the new area plan--including the National Park Service, the cities of Westlake Village, Calabasas and Agoura Hills, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and the Las Virgenes Municipal School District--only through their refusal to accept up-zoning of land-use designations in the new plan, can our mountain communities ever have a chance of changing how county Regional Planning continues to grant amendments and approvals for increases in development density.

TOBY KEELER, Co-Chair, Government Relations Committee, Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, Agoura Hills

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How, exactly, can The Times bemoan the destruction of open space in the Santa Monica Mountains on the front page (“A Growth Plan Run Amok”) and happily support the destruction of open space in the San Fernando Valley on the editorial page (“Pierce Golf Plan Is Right Course,” Valley Edition editorials, Dec. 27)?

In the A1 story about the manipulation and outright destruction of the 1975-era plan to limit growth in the Santa Monicas, The Times exposes the unbridled avarice of developers and the willingness of elected officials to whore for campaign contributions in return for building permits.

In the B14 editorial, the Times calls for the destruction of 240 acres of open space by building a golf course on the Pierce College campus in Woodland Hills.

If consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, then The Times surely has some of the most expansive minds in California.

Or is just that The Times’ executives live in places like Calabasas and Brentwood, and it is just the paper’s subscribers who live in places like Winnetka and Woodland Hills?

BRAD SMITH, Granada Hills

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Kudos to Times staff writer T. Christian Miller and researcher Stephanie Stassel for their fantastic work on “A Growth Plan Run Amok.”

The article elucidated political considerations for intrusion on the Santa Monica Mountains, but the California Coastal Commission was not taken to task. Sadly, the commission is allowing building permits that are contrary to the preservation of the mountains and canyons, and specifically in Tuna Canyon, a beautiful area in Topanga.

For the past 2 1/2 years, a large group of residents in Topanga, the Topanga Unified Neighborhood Assn. (TUNA) and the Topanga Assn. for Scenic Community (TASC) have taken the California Coastal Commission to court to enjoin it to abide by its own Coastal Act and not allow development in the heart of Tuna Canyon. Tuna Canyon is a pristine watershed and the most ecologically fragile canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains, containing a magnificent variety of native plants, animals and ecologically sensitive environments that will be ruined forever if the Coastal Commission stands by its present permits.

On Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals will hear arguments and decide whether Tuna Canyon will be preserved or ruined. TUNA / TASC and the local neighborhood are being pro-active, trying to prevent what has happened all through the Santa Monica Mountains and stop the destruction of this extremely fragile watershed area. We implore the public to become involved in the fight to save Tuna Canyon and the rest of the Santa Monica Mountains for posterity.

MALCOLM A. LESAVOY and SABINE NIEDERBERGHAUS, Topanga

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Your in-depth research of the overall impact of over-development in the mountains was a support to all the people in all the communities who have been engaged in preserving the mountains from over-development.

Mike Antonovich was quoted as saying he has worked hard to preserve the mountains. Clearly the record shows the complete opposite. The latest example of his working to preserve the mountains was his yes vote on the Newhall Ranch development in his district. The rationale was that the project was reduced from 27,000 homes to 22,000 homes. As for his statement in the article about property values being enhanced: at whose expense, Mr. Antonovich? As far as the destruction of the mountains, who should be held accountable? Some of the very same decision makers on land-use policy are still in place. When will it stop?

I am aware that a new general plan called the Ventura Corridor Area Plan is in the works. But even as it’s being presented for review to the public, forces are trying to water down reasonable guidelines for growth. As long as you have supervisors who think and behave the way Antonovich does, the destruction will continue.

Often the phrase “private property rights” is used to defend a pro-development action. I must submit that there is a big difference between a single person wanting to build his or her home and a developer wanting to put up hundreds of homes in an area.

Now that we have elected a new pro-environment governor, winds of change are in the air. Instead of looking at development proposals on a project-by-project basis, piecemeal fashion, projects should be looked at with cumulative impacts as a top priority. How one project affects surrounding areas (i.e. traffic, water, air quality and natural resources) should be considered much more than now and be a truly deciding factor.

I like what Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at the end of the piece. Our customer isn’t the developer. Our customer is posterity. Only time will tell.

ROGER PUGLIESE, Topanga