MINUTES

OCTOBER 20, 2003 MEETING OF THE

CITY OF SANTA MONICA

TASK FORCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

 

 

The meeting was convened at 7:10 p.m.  Task Force members in attendance: Susan Mearns, Sandy Grant, Matt Petersen, Bill Selby, David Hertz, Erik Neandross and Mark Gold.  Santa Monica City staff in attendance: Craig Perkins, Brian Johnson and Dean Kubani.  Others: Mayor Pro tem Kevin McKeown, Planning Commissioner Arlene Hopkins, MWD Board member Judy Abdo, Laurel Roennau, Louisa Fish, Marty Rubin, Gene Burke, Genevieve Allen, Katherine Tyrrell, Alex Man, Jonathan Aurthur, Wendy Wert, Sabrina Venskas, Stacy Brown and three other members of the public.

 

Minutes

The minutes from the September 15, 2003 meeting were unanimously approved.

 

Update Regarding The City’s Solid Waste Transfer Station Proposal

This item was postponed until the November Task Force meeting to allow for a more formal presentation.

 

Subcommittee Updates

Regarding air quality sampling at Santa Monica Airport, Susan Mearns noted that she is still waiting on the City and AQMD to begin the process to develop the sampling protocol.  Brian Johnson indicated that City airport staff are working with AQMD on moving this forward and that he will keep her informed of their progress.

 

Regarding Airport Park, Susan noted her disappointment that, although Task Force comments were included in the staff report on the Airport Park EIR, they were dismissed by staff in staff’s recommendation that Council certify the EIR for the park.  She felt that staff used flawed reasoning in dismissing the comments.

 

Regarding water fluoridation, Susan indicated that she is still waiting on City Utilities’ staff to arrange a meeting with the consultants Black and Veatch to address questions forwarded to them by Susan and Mark.  Craig Perkins indicated that he would follow up to ensure that the meeting is scheduled soon.  Susan and Mark Gold agreed that following the meeting they will communicate Task Force concerns regarding fluoridation directly to Council at a future Council meeting.

 

Preliminary Discussion of Task Force Recommendations Regarding Playa Vista Phase II Draft EIR

 

Discussion on this item was postponed until the November 17 Task Force meeting.  Dean Kubani noted that a staff report transmitting City staff recommendations on the Draft EIR would be presented to Council at the December 9 Council meeting.   This will allow Council to make comments to the City of LA by the December 22 comment deadline.  Task Force members indicated that they would be unable to complete their review of the Draft EIR in time to have their comments included in the staff report, so they will forward their comments directly to City Council. Task Force comments must be submitted to the City Clerk by November 26 to ensure that they are included in the Council packet for December 9.  Katherine Tyrrell from Playa Vista noted that her office is available to answer any questions the Task Force or staff my have regarding the EIR.  Sabrina Venskas from the Ballona Wetlands Trust indicated that her group is willing to share information from its review of the EIR with the Task Force.

 

Discussion of Task Force Mission and Priorities

The purpose of the discussion was to help refocus the Task Force away from reactive, project specific items and towards more proactive, policy related issues as laid out in the Task Force mission statement from 1997.  Task Force members agreed that the top priority for the coming years should be ensuring successful implementation of the Sustainable City Plan.  Discussion on this item will continue at the November 17 Task Force meeting with the review of the Resource Conservation and Environmental and Public Health goal areas of the Sustainable City Plan.  Regarding setting of future agendas, Task Force members agreed that agenda items should adhere to time limits, and that requests by the public to address the Task Force should include clear direction as to the desired Task Force action prior to the item being agendized.

 

Discussion on Sustainable City Outreach to Other Communities

The discussion focused on actions that could be taken by the Task Force and the City to promote sustainability to other cities in southern California.  Dean Kubani provided background on staff presentations of the Sustainable City Plan to other communities, organizations and universities in the region over the past several years.  Although these presentations have been extensive in number and location, staff has not undertaken a coordinated and proactive outreach campaign to the region.  Task Force members suggested that future outreach should be directed toward the City of Los Angeles and the Westside Council of Governments.  Mark Gold and Matt Petersen agreed to begin discussions with Los Angeles City Council members to encourage the creation of a sustainability city program for L.A.  Sandy Grant indicated that she would work on scheduling a presentation on the Santa Monica SCP to the Westside Council of Governments.

 

Update on Sustainable City Advisory Committee

Brian Johnson reported that Council is set to discuss the creation of a Sustainable City advisory body at their October 28 meeting.  Sandy Grant and Mark Gold agreed to attend and present Task Force recommendations at the meeting.

 

Metropolitan Water District Update

MWD Board member Judy Abdo provided the update.  She reported that a water transfer agreement between the Imperial Irrigation District and San Diego has finally been reached.  The agreement will provide surplus water from the Colorado River to urban areas in Southern California for the next 10 years.  Judy also noted that MWD has been slow to act on perchlorate and MTBE and requested that City Utilities staff begin to speak up on the need for action at MWD board meetings.  Mark Gold requested that Judy assist in getting a discussion of water retention/recycling/reuse agendized before the board and Judy agreed to work with him to make it happen.

 

Public Input

Louisa Fish recommended that public transit should remain a priority of the Task Force as it refocuses its mission.

 

Jonathan Aurthur expressed concerns that recent streetscape renovations on Wilshire Boulevard have made it hazardous to cyclists and expressed concern that staff and Council members don’t believe it is a problem.  Task Force members invited him to attend their December meeting when they will discuss implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan.

Gene Burke distributed a letter on water fluoridation and arsenic to the Task Force and asked that they review it and consider including this information when they present their recommendations on fluoridation to Council.

 

Laurel Roennau reported that the Planning Commission has forwarded recommendations to Council regarding the completion of a performance audit of the City’s Planning Department and revision of the City’s traffic count methodology.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35pm