Last night, the City Council was presented with a proposal by a private developer to split ONE lot in an R2 cul-de-sac, 4227 Ince, into THREE lots.
Each would still be R2, the result of which would be six condominiums. Each would stand 29.5 feet high.
The city staff presented this proposal with a straight face and indicated that allowing this change would have no impact on the rest of the single family homes on the block or in the immediate neighborhood.
Our mayor, Scott Malsin, piously asked the developer to consider the escalating gas prices and commit to making certain to market the condos to Sony employees, a brilliant solution to traffic congestion.
We then learned that the city staff, who prepare the files for review by the Council, did not include letters from residents because “the letters did not specifically address the issue of zoning.”
The Council members who felt that the proposal was a travesty were then counseled by the Redevelopment Agency on “definitions,” and on how their votes were restricted to the facts as presented.
I believe it is high time for the city departments to admit that the residents of Culver City asked to change the process and will continue to refuse to accept the bureaucracy’s stranglehold on our city's future.
It is time to change how planning and development is done in the city. If that means making changes to senior city staff, so be it.
Plain language and real neighborhood input are called for before one more project is brought before either the Planning Commission or the City Council.
