Maryam Zar was appointed to the Pacific Palisades Design Review Board.
To Design Review Board, Which Still Needs Two Members
Community Council Chair Emeritus Maryam Zar was appointed to the Pacific Palisades Design Review Board on April 18 by Councilman Mike Bonin.
The DRB is a Los Angeles City-appointed, seven-member committee that meets twice monthly to examine proposed signage and buildings in the Palisades business district. The DRB observes the Brown Act and ensures that local commercial development follows the Specific Plan.
In a January 24 letter to Bonin, Chair Donna Vaccarino noted that “the Pacific Palisades Design Review Board does not have a full board. Last year two members termed out and an additional member will complete his term as of this February, leaving a total of four members on the Board.”
With Zar’s appointment, the board now has five members, with room for two additional residents to be appointed by Bonin.
Zar joins Vaccarino, David Forbes Hibbert (vice chair), Sarah Griffin (secretary), Paul Darrall, Barbara Kohn and Kenton Trinh (Los Angeles City Planner).
Writing to Vince Bertoni, Director of Planning, Bonin noted that in addition to being a former PPCC chair, Zar also “currently chairs the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils. Maryam holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Boston University and a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine Law School.
“Maryam is committed to preserving and protecting Pacific Palisades by upholding the Specific Plan,” Bonin wrote. “I am confident that Mrs. Maryam Zar is well qualified for this position and that she will make an outstanding member of the Pacific Palisades DRB.”
Since Zar’s appointment, DRB meetings, which are scheduled for the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at the YMCA on Via de la Paz, have all been cancelled.
If you want to understand the importance of the DRB, go to ppdrb.org and look at the photo showing all the tall, ugly business signs on both sides of Sunset Boulevard in the heart of town–before the Specific Plan was implemented.