When the Culver City Planning Commission met on August 14, 2024, they heard from Mark Muenzer, the Director of Planning and Development and Troy Evangelho, Advance Planning Manager, for a final presentation of the General Plan Update before it appears on the City Council agenda.
They also heard from a number of people who had issues with the plan as it is currently proposed.
Commission Chair Andrew Reilman phoned in to the meeting, but all other commissioners were physically present, and the meeting was chaired by Vice Chair Darrel Menthe.
The presentation of the General Plan Update began with Muenzer going over the basics; “The General Plan is the city’s blueprint for meeting the city’s vision …all of this is being done to create more housing opportunities throughout the city, to create a more walkable city, and to meet environmental standards.”
The approval of the Planning Commission was needed to then present the plan to the City Council at the August 26, 2024 meeting.
The council needs to approve the housing element to meet a state deadline of October 15, 2024 for both the General Plan and the Zoning Code updates. If it does not, the state then has the right to intervene to impose standards that will meet the required number of new housing units.
Since the beginning of the General Plan Update, there have bee more than 50 public meetings to discuss, educate and inform. Many of these meetings are still available online at PictureCulverCity.com.
After the presentation, the podium saw almost an hour’s worth of comments from city residents offering their thoughts.
Richard Singerman touched on the concerns of many who followed, saying it seemed that “Fox Hills is taking the brunt of all this dense housing … we are really concerned about all this development.”
Steven Siegel spoke, representing an entire neighborhood on Culver Boulevard between Sepulveda and Elenda, saying that “residents were unanimously opposed to changing the multi-family zoning on that street to mixed use,” which would allow for businesses to open on the street. “If people want [that] they can go down to Sepulveda.”
Cindy Aragon said that she was “initially suspicious over over-development, but I’ve not experienced [traffic issues near Playa Vista] because there has been good planning in regard to freeway access. So I’m not opposed to the plan for mixed use.”
Judi Sherman, a resident of Fox Hills and a member of the board of the Fox Hills Neighborhood Association went into detail about the concerns that this version of the General Plan has for her neighborhood. “We in Fox Hills deserve better; every level of governance has known for years of the issues in regard to traffic and parking … the 100 units per acre density designation on the south side of Slauson [that the Zoning Code currently approves] has so far has attracted the interest of three developers, planning a total of 1706 units, with likely more to come. Changes must be made to decrease the density designation. We are not NIMBYs [Not in My Back Yard] but we are also not sardines.”
Many additional speakers from Fox Hills touched on the same points.
The city has received 446 Comments in regard to the General Plan Update – not all of them in regard to housing.
The Planning Commission approved to send the plan on to council on a vote of five ayes, with Reilman, Menthe, Stephen Jones, Jen Carter, and Jackson Brisette all voting in favor.
Judith Martin-Straw
