Hear It: Planning Comm'n (5-0) Approves After-the-Fact Permit For Loynes-South Parcel (Hitchcock) Conditioned On City Staff Returning w/in 90 Days w/ Remediation Plan
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(Dec. 4, 2009) -- Following a roughly three hour hearing, LB's Planning Commission voted 5-0 (motion by Van Horik; Smith & Gentile absent) to deny an appeal filed by multiple appellants, uphold a decision of City Hall's Zoning Administrator decison to grant permits to allow and maintain a cap on the (landfill) property with a condition of approval that requests staff to work on a remediation plan and bring it back to Commission within 90 days.
LBReport.com provides extended on-demand/indexed audio of the proceedings below.
The decision followed a roughly three hour hearing in which multiple appellants, members of the public and 4th dist. Councilman Patrick O'Donnell (via written statement, previously reported by LBReport.com) sought restoration of the Loynes-South (Hitchcock) parcel (6400 Loynes Dr.), cleared of vegetation by property owner Sean Hitchcock in March 2009 (without Coastal Zone required permits) in response to a city staff weed abatement directive (conveyed to prior landowner Tom Dean).
City staff recommended upholding the city staff Zoning Administrator (no restoration required). [Link to city staff report, click here.]
Multiple appellants and members of the public described the property in its prior condition, citing trees, nesting birds and other wildlife. Appellant/area resident Sandie Van Horn displayed photographs. Multiple speakers sought restoration of the property to its previous condition.
Mr. Hitchcock's lawyer, Charles Hokanson, told the Commission that restoration wasn't necessary. "The site is now as it was then. On March 18, the property was a covered landfill. It had a cap on it. It was a covered landfill, covered with weeds. Today, it is a covered landfill and weeds have now again grown such that we have got a new directive from the Fire Department to cut down the weeds. The site is now exactly as it was then," Mr. Hokanson said.
March 20, 2009, LBReport.com photo
The voted action by the non-elected (Mayor chosen, Council approved) Planning Commission decision leaves details of the remedy uncertain for now. The Commission denied the appeals but conditioned granting a permit on a remediation plan that will be developed over the next 90 days by city staff (which in its initial presentation didn't support property restoration). Staff's proposed plan will return to the Commission for further action. The Commission's ruling is ultimately appealable by either side to the Coastal Commission.
LBReport.com on-demand audio is MP3 format (compressed but still large files that may take a few moments to download); testimony is w/ addresses omitted, pauses shortened, some digressions removed)
