The Los Angeles County ordinance regulating the oil field in the Baldwin Hills includes a provision requiring 5 year reviews to determine if modifications should be made.  Since we are approaching the fifth anniversary of the ordinance, the County is now beginning the review process.

The first step is to solicit community input as to what works and does not work in the current ordinance, and whether new provisions should be added or existing provisions removed or modified.  There are several opportunities for residents to provide input on these matters.

First, you can attend the May 23, 2013 meeting of the Community Advisory Panel (CAP), which will be primarily devoted to this topic.  Suggestions made at this meeting will be recorded by the County and will be considered as part of the review process.  This meeting will be held at the community center at Kenneth Hahn Park at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 23.   A copy of the official notice of the meeting can be found online at planning.lacounty.gov/baldwinhills/cap

Second, you can submit your comments on a survey form that has been prepared by the County.  This survey can be accessed online by going to planning.lacounty.gov/baldwinhills/csd and clicking on the “Go to Survey” link.  If you would prefer not to complete the survey online, you can print out the PDF copy of the survey, complete it by hand, and send it to Rena Kambara, County Planner, 320 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA  90012.

Finally, you can submit comments by sending an email to Rena at rkambara@planning.lacounty.gov

In this scoping phase of the process, the goal is to generate an extensive list of potential changes, so that the County can consider the widest possible range of options and decide upon the ones that will have the most beneficial impact.  During a very brief discussion of this topic at the April CAP meeting, some of the potential issues mentioned were:

• Add provisions regulating fracking at the field
• Increase the amount of insurance and bonds that PXP is required to maintain
• Expand the role of the CAP from simply disseminating information
• Provide remedies for homeowners who claim their homes have been damaged by oil field drilling operations

The above list will hopefully give some idea of the potential changes that could be considered.  However, everyone hopes that the process will generate a much more extensive list.

So, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please pass them on to the County via any of the methods described above.