[Editor’s Note: The Community Advisory Panel will meet Thursday evening at 7 at the top of Kenneth Hahn State Park.]
The Los Angeles County ordinance regulating the Baldwin Hills Oil Field includes a provision requiring five-year reviews to determine if modifications should be made. Since we are approaching the fifth anniversary of the ordinance, the County is beginning the review process.
The first step is to solicit community input:
- What does and does not work in the current ordinance?
- Should new provisions be added?
- Or should existing provisions be removed or modified?
There are several opportunities for residents to provide input on these matters.
First, you can attend the Thursday 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 considered as part of the review process. This meeting will be at the Community Center at Kenneth Hahn Park at 7 o’clock on Thursday.
A copy of the official notice of the meeting can be found online at http://planning.lacounty.gov/baldwinhills/cap
Second, you can submit comments on a survey form prepared by the County. This survey can be accessed by going to http://planning.lacounty.gov/baldwinhills/csd and clicking on the “Go to Survey” link.
If you would prefer not to complete the survey online, send your ideas 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 before deciding which 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, the oil drilling company, 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
Hopefully the above list will give some idea of the potential changes that could be considered. However, everyone hopes that the process will generate a more extensive list.
If you have thoughts or suggestions, please pass them on to the County via any of the methods described above.
Mr. Bauer may be contacted at culvercity99@aol.com
