Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood Association

 MINUTES - AUGUST 21, 2003

Minutes - approval of July 10th minutes tabled until the next meeting.

Treasurer’s report - tabled in the absence of the Treasurer..

Traffic Report – Sgt. Harper, West Traffic

Neighbors report traffic out of hand at Beachwood & Rodgerton. Sgt. Harper said he would get a study done of the area and monitor the speed of the cars. He suggests calling him and following up 213-473-0215, email: lapdwtd@aol.com

Crime Report – Officer Sollie

Burglary theft from motor vehicles are up. Officer Sollie encouraged people to watch what they leave in the car – in plain sight.

Permit Parking Presentation: Brian Gallagher, Sr. Transportation Director

Permit Parking is an inconvenience because people need to buy the permits and the guests need permits as well. They like to work out problems that cause the parking problems first. Sometimes they like to change the parking restrictions on the block from one hour to two hours, for example. Sometimes they choose to have no parking anytime 10pm to 5pm daily or weekends. These changes apply to everyone.

When it comes to needing a sign that refers to one person and not another, then permit parking is required.

      There is an 11-step process to get permit parking in place.

1)       A letter needs to come from the neighborhood organization, neighborhood council or even the city council office outlining why it’s necessary and what type of restrictions are being sought. When they receive this letter, then the DOT knows that it’s serious.

  2)      Contact is made from the DOT to the people generating the letter and the businesses or the source of the problem. Discussions will take place to find remedies other than permit parking. If no conclusion can be made, petitions will need to be signed.

  3)      Petitions – Will outline which block the petition is for, what restrictions are being sought. At least 6 blocks need to be included – at least 67% of people on each block must sign the petition – each apartment unit is counted as one vote. At least 50% of frontage needs to support the permit-parking district. Then they are turned into the D.O.T.’s permit parking division and the staff will verify the signatures.

  4)      Environmental clearance study must be completed that will say that there is nothing negative impact as a result of the parking district.

  5)      A public hearing follows. The neighborhood is posted for 15 days prior to the hearing all through the parking district so that the people in the area can speak out for or against it. This is to alert the city to any problems or surprises. It’s also to let the people in the neighborhood know that a parking district is on its way.

  6)      Within 30 days of the hearing, the hearing officer must provide a report about the hearing. Based on their recommendation, the council office and permit parking office will write a recommendation supporting the parking district outlining the boundaries of the district. They add a couple blocks to the district in case there is spill over.

  7)      They will specify what the parking restrictions are. Each block in the district doesn’t have to have the same restrictions.

  8)      Transportation committee sees it and decide if it’s good or bad or they recommend changes to the district. They forward their recommendation to the full city council. This takes less than one month.

  9)      When city council approves it, we look at the petitions. We need to make sure that the parking restrictions that are outlined on the petitions match that which the city council approved. If it doesn’t, the block or blocks needs to be re-petitioned.

  10) Notices will be mailed out announcing the new permit parking district.

  11)   Annually 3 permits per dwelling unit, 2 Visitor permits (good for 4 months), Guest passes (costs a dollar and it’s only for one day – must go to the service office to buy this).

Based on the situation that exists in the canyon, it was suggested that the only area that could possibly benefit from the permit parking process would be the area around the Franklin Strip restaurants. The majority of the cars that clog up the hillside streets belong to those who reside in the neighborhood. This area would probably not qualify for permit parking. The petition gathering would be problematic. More discussion is needed on this issue before any action is taken.

Coyote Report – Gregory Randall, Wildlife Specialist

Gregory explained the situation where the coyotes are getting brave and what people can do to scare them away and protect themselves and their pets and property.

Meeting adjourned