The Crest View Fall 2007 Newsletter
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All posts by Antoine Durr
Thanks to all of you who sent voluntary membership dues to the CCNA for the coming year. The response was overwhelming and much appreciated by your Board of Directors. If you planned to give and just didn’t get to it, here’s a reminder. Again, it’s voluntary. Just complete the Application for Membership below and send it or bring it to Mike Bauer, 10676 Esterina Way, Culver City, CA 90230.
Your Board of Directors and residents of Culver Crest thank you very much.
The College notified your Board that they will not pursue obtaining rights to the dirt portion of Stocker Road and therefore have the right to construct what they want on that property. This is, so the College says, due to the lack of cooperation they received from Edison who obtained ownership of this parcel when the Stocker Street expansion (over the hill to La Cienega) was scaled back and removed from the Los Angeles Master Plan. Too bad we didn’t know about that because our ironclad (or what we thought was ironclad) written agreement with the College called for an earthen berm, which was to have been landscaped and managed by the College, was a pre-condition to the construction that the College so far has not been able to get started. Without the consent of Edison, the College says no place to put the dirt from their excavations so no berm. Your Board heavily contested the College’s position. While we are looking at alternatives, see below, the College is poised to start construction on its new parking lot anyway.
In addition, the College recently announced their next phase of expansion including an expanded football stadium and a new baseball stadium. They also want to expand into the 10100 Jefferson site that they acquired from the City to be developed in a public/private for profit partnership. This portion of the campus will be within the confines of the City of Culver City. They also want to enlarge the access and entrance on Overland. This plan includes a second multi-story parking lot.
As an alternative to the berm, the College is proposing various forms of both temporary and permanent sound walls. While placement of these walls is problematic, the walls ignore other goals sought when the berm was proposed by the College. These include neighborhood beautification, reduction of intrusions into the Crest from the College grounds along Stocker, noise and dust reduction and an open green space which could continue to be utilized by the neighbors. Alternately, the College proposed to close Stocker permanently and turn it all, including the asphalt portion, into a green belt, to erect a few minor small sound walls and to place some signage there. So right now discussions are being held with no really good alternatives in sight. Could litigation be a possibility? Come to the General Meeting on Wednesday, September 19th and have your say.
It’s sad when old friends leave but that’s what Larry and Linda Price are doing. Long-time Flaxton Street residents of our Crest, Larry and Linda have decided it’s best to be closer to the kids, so off they go.
Best wishes to you guys and let’s hear from you once in awhile.
The County is in the process of composing their Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the first public draft of which should be released between October and November 2007. If you haven’t yet done so, you can visit http://planning.lacounty.gov/spBH.htm to get a complete overview, and especially download the Meet-and-Greet PowerPoint PDF, which nicely explains all the terms surrounding this EIR process. Prepare yourself that when the draft of the EIR is released, there will be a 60-day comment period.
Your CCNA board is actively monitoring any documents released by the County, and has responded to each one from a legal standpoint. We consider it crucial that they recognize the needs of residents of Culver Crest. While the County’s intentions are good, issues seem to consistently fall off the back of the document.
GOOD NEWS- PART 3. There was a special Culver City Council Meeting held Thursday night, August 30, in order to award the hillside repair contract to Malcolm Drilling. It was approved by the City Council and the work should commence by October 1. The project is moving forward and the steel to reinforce the hill has been ordered. The job will take approximately 100 working days, which should bring it to March 2008 to complete. Let’s all hope it is so.
The completed hillside will have supports, both wood and concrete on three levels. The concrete wall will be flanked by two sets of wood pilings, drilled approximately 45 feet into the ground. The damaged property will more than likely have to be accessed from the top (Cranks Road) as well as the bottom but there are no plans to store equipment and materials there. Regarding the house on Cranks the city now owns, a study is being done to determine whether it has to be razed or if it can be taken down and if so, whether to move it and put it back once the work is complete. There is considerably more value to the property with the house on it, of course, but it may be too costly to move and return it. Tellefson Road will remain closed as it will be needed for a staging area and for storage of equipment used on the job. The rainy season might hamper some of the work being done, but unless it is an unusually heavy rainy season, it will not stop the work from being accomplished.
Regarding the FEMA money, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) has sent a letter to FEMA, which is a necessary procedure. This letter recommended that FEMA accept the appeal from Culver City and to allow the time extension needed to qualify the city for funds. While FEMA does not have to comply with the OES recommendation, Culver City is cautiously optimistic that it will receive funding from FEMA.
As many of you already know, especially those who use Cranks and Northgate, the C.C. sewer project is well underway. These streets have been torn up and new sewer pipes have been installed. These two streets will eventually be ground down and resurfaced, probably before the end of the year.
The timetable for the balance of the sewer project is as follows:
Whitburn- between Overland and Drakewood September 17 thru September 28
Flaxton- between Overland and Drakewood October 1 thru October 16
Drakewood- between Ranch and Flaxton October 17 thru October 30
Flaxton- between Drakewood and Youngworth November 1 thru November 6
Eveward- between Bernardo and Ranch November 7 thru November 16
Theses streets will be closed to through traffic but local residents will be allowed access to their driveways. There may be temporary blockage while workers are working directly in front of a particular house but the inconvenience will be short. The residents of these streets will receive notice of this potential inconvenience at least 2 days in advance of the work starting on their street.
The traffic safety roadwork on Ranch Road has been delayed partially due to the sewer line repairs taking place on the Crest. However, we will be receiving some of the balance of the project in the coming weeks. For example, posted advisory speed limit signage will soon be installed on Ranch Road. Also, there will be a double yellow stripe marking lanes up and down the curve at the top of Ranch Road along with the raised street deflectors. In addition, other new striping will soon be done on Ranch as well as surface painted stop signs.
There will also be a resurfacing project on the corner of Ranch Road and Overland Avenue. This will smooth out the bumps at that corner. Then the street will be realigned to make approaching that intersection safer. If you have thoughts about how that intersection could be improved, please send your suggestions to culvercity99 (at) aol (dot) com or attend the meeting that the city will soon be announcing that will address this project.
According to studies taken by the Culver City Engineering Department, the new red curbs have resulted in an improvement in safer driving conditions. The rest of the project will provide even greater safety for residents and guests.
The Saturday night before Halloween, October 27th, the CCNA will join Leslie Ekker in staging our annual Halloween Fest on Lugo Way. ALL ARE INVITED. Bring something for at least six people to eat, as food is always a la carte and pot luck. Festivities commence at 6 pm. There will be fun, delights, scary stuff, decorations and gosh knows what all. Look for the flyer a few weeks before the party that will be distributed throughout the Crest.
If you can volunteer to set up decorations, tents and stuff, please contact Howard Lichtman at 310-202 8001. It will be greatly appreciated.
NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, September 19, 2007 6:30 P.M. at the El Rincon School Cafetorium
NOMINATIONS / NOMINATIONS / NOMINATIONS
It’s that time of year again, and your Board of Directors is up for re-election at our upcoming November meeting. This year, nominations for the Board of Directors will be of the open nominations variety. Any person running will have to be nominated in open assembly at our September 19th meeting, and seconded. This means that each candidate will run separately for office, and the nine persons receiving the most number of votes will sit on the Board. At this meeting, anyone may nominate any member of the Culver Crest Neighborhood Association to run for a seat on the Board of Directors (officers are chosen by the Board after the election). Any person over 18 years old living on the Crest or owning property on the Crest is eligible to be a member. Dues are not required to be a member as they are voluntary. The actual elections will occur at the November 28, 2007 meeting.
We anxiously invite anyone with an urge to help their community to step forward and seek a seat on the Board.
In addition, we have invited the candidates for the upcoming Culver City School Board Election to meet our residents. Please come and meet your candidates for this important election to be held in November. Other topics to be discussed at this General Meeting will include the Hillside Repair, the Culver City Sewer Project, update of Neighborhood Watch activities, the West L. A. College berm issue, and any topic or issue brought up by our members.
Culver Crest Neighborhood Association 