A reader said that the Rivas Canyon Trail is too narrow to get city equipment in to clean out debris basins because a retaining wall encroaches on City property.
Circling the News ran a hearing notice for a 1270 Marinette Road project (adjacent to Will Rogers State Park, via upper Chautauqua), which will be held tomorrow, Thursday, February 27, at Los Angeles City Hall.
An existing 96,612-sq.-ft. lot will be divided into four new lots, ranging from about 15,072 to 44,501 sq.-ft. each. The project involves demolition of an existing two-story single-family dwelling. Four new two-story, single-family dwellings with basements will be built on each lot. Their size will range from 5,621 to 12, 821 sq.-ft.
Seven retaining walls will be built, and the existing public street will be extended down into Rivas Canyon. The project is projected to involve 96,000 cubic yards of grading (none to be exported) and the removal of 10 protected trees and 63 non-protected trees (53 of which are considered significant).
Once the hearing notice was published, the Pacific Palisades Community Council executive committee sent a February 24 letter to the City, requesting that “all City agencies involved in reviewing and making decisions in regard to the Project and/or tree removal proposals in connection with the Project apply, uphold and strictly enforce all City zoning regulations, provisions of the Municipal Code and rules promulgated by the Bureau of Street Services Urban Forestry Division that apply to the Project and/or any and all proposals to remove protected and ‘significant’ non-protected trees in connection with the Project.”
The PPCC also asked for a 30-day extension to allow for public comment. There will be a PPCC Land Use Committee meeting regarding this project on 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, at the Palisades Library community room.
Today, CTN received additional information about the project from a reader who is familiar with the hiking trail that runs along the property. We forwarded this alarming information to Councilman Mike Bonin’s spokesperson David Graham-Caso and City Planning Staff Contact Kenton Trinh:
“The retaining wall for the current property already encroaches on City land on the Rivas Canyon Trail portion of the Rivas connector trail (Temescal to Will Rogers). There were protests when it was built and the City said, ‘our bad’ and never did anything about it. What it means is that the trail at this point is now too narrow to get City equipment in to clean out the two (three?) debris basins up Rivas Creek, which are now pretty much full of debris. This means that in the next big flood, the houses (including the new mega-million mansions) will be washed away and the city will be sued and we the taxpayers will (of course) pay the bill.”
CTN asked Graham-Caso and Trinh, “Will the City readjust the property line on the Rivas Canyon Trail portion before approving the 1270 Marinette Road project? And will the City clean out the debris basins on Rivas Creek?”
Now’s the time to force the property owner to replace the illegal retaining wall and build a new one on his property, which would enable the City to clear the debris from Rivas.
My understanding is that this illegal retaining wall which was built before we bought our home on Marinette also has implications for Rivas Canyon Road which may also be at risk of flooding due to lack of access to clean the debris basins on the Rivas Trail.