Countering Misinformation about the LA County Rezoning Plan

Citizen viewpoints should at least be factual.

1 min read
Map
Proposed zoning changes for Altadena. Graphic: Los Angeles County

The L.A. County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) recently endorsed — unanimously — the West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan (WSGVAP), which will go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval in December. Since the RPC action, a handful of Altadena residents have circulated an online petition opposing the WSGVAP. Unfortunately, the language in their petition and social media posts disseminates misinformation. While we should respect any citizen’s views, we should also demand that their claims be factual.

One claim is that the County’s Department of Regional Planning (DRP) failed to conduct adequate community outreach to prepare the WSGVAP. This claim is false.

Starting with a visioning workshop at the Altadena library in October 2023, DRP staff synthesized hundreds of recommendations from Altadenans to envision, over the next few decades, a more sustainable town. The DRP outreach included in-person and virtual meetings, a project Web site, community surveys, an email list, fact sheets, flyers, postcards, notices, mailers, and social media posts – widely distributed in multiple languages. These community engagement efforts were recently cited by one Commissioner as “the most comprehensive and extensive outreach ever presented” to the RPC. To see for yourself, read the Land Use and Conservation/Open Space chapters of the WSGVAP.

Another social media claim is that the WSGVAP and associated zoning changes will make it “MORE likely that there will be development in wildlife corridors and the fire [hazard] zone.” This claim is false.

The WSGVAP updates zone designations for some properties in northern Altadena and its foothills to create consistency with several existing, previously enacted land use constraints that limit potential development in hazard zones and in the hillside and significant ecological areas. The WSGVAP land use policies direct growth away from established protected and hazard areas, preserve natural and biological resources and prevent habitat disturbance and fragmentation. The plan allows new development in urban areas near main transit corridors. To argue against any growth in Altadena is unreasonable at a time when the State is pressuring local municipalities to reduce obstacles to building more housing.

The WSGVAP recognizes environmental and societal changes over the past decades and presents a rational, compelling vision for future development in Altadena. It is a comprehensive, forward-looking plan that balances smart growth with the undeniable need to limit the risks of continued expansion into hazard and protected areas. The WSGVAP embodies common sense. Will the WSGVAP make everyone happy? No. Does it create conditions for the “greatest good” to prevail in our community? Yes.

Michael D. Bicay, Ph.D.

Michael Bicay is a 22-year Altadena resident, and a retired astrophysicist and NASA science director. He is the founding president of AltadenaWILD Inc, a local non-profit organization. 

Susan M. Maunu

Susan Maunu has lived in Altadena for the past 22 years in a home adjacent to the Angeles National Forest. She dedicated her paralegal career to specializing in land use and environmental law.  

The short URL of this article is: https://localnewspasadena.com/mour

3 Comments

  1. I’m registering a word of appreciation for the clarity and appropriate corrections offered by this opinion article. I live near Altadena, in Pasadena, and appreciate as well the thoughtful work that has gone into future community expansion planning.

  2. By all means Michael D. Bicay, PHD. Lets counter misinformation and thank you for giving me an opportunity to inform why the WSGVAP makes development more likely in the foothills. Not less. I am so glad this has entered your consciousness. . First, are you seriously claiming that sufficient community outreach was enacted? Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning conducted exactly two “visioning” workshops at the local Altadena Library and at other local libraries of the affected communities. I attended one of these. If I remember correctly they asked for comments about what people would like to see happen in their communities. If you ask anyone, including me, if they would like to see wildlife corridors to protect local wildlife of course we are going to say we do. If you ask the question “are you willing to give up your own property to increase wildlife corridors?” I don’t know too many people who are going to say that they are willing to do that. Are you willing to give up your property for this purpose Mr. Bicay? If you ask, “would you be willing to take what ever measures are possible on your own property to protect wildlife?” The answer would probably be yes from most people and I think most large property owners in Altadena do adhere to this. None of those questions, as I recall, were asked. The impression was that Regional Planning was just gathering information. It was never conveyed that they were going to take this information and use it to justify a radical restructuring of our area for both large property owners and owners of all residential property with in the suburban communities. . If Regional Planning conducted sufficient community outreach then why is virtually no one, weather they live in the foothills or lower in Altadena, that I have talked to are aware of the impact that the WSGAP is going to have on their property, their daily lives and the life and safety of their children? Most inhabitants have a vague impression, if they know anything about it at all, that the WSGVAP, by changing R-1 to A-1 is going to protect wildlife corridors and prevent construction in fire zones. It will not prevent any such thing and will, in fact, make it more likely that developments can occur funded by very deep pocketed entities. Why? Because changing the zoning of large properties to A-1 disenfranchises those property owners by radically devaluing the properties with radically decreased density. Those property owners are then vulnerable to take over by deep pocketed entities who then can create their own special zoning district. They can change it right back to what they want from A-1. The county code allows for a zone change and there is nothing in the WSGAP that stops that. This is what happened back in the 1980s with La Vina. The Seagram family financed the creation of a special zoning district after the large property owners were forced out. You didn’t address any of these points , Michael D Bicay PHD. Furthermore, the WSGAP creates INCREASED zoning in Altadena proper. H-18 down near Woodbury, H-5 in foothill communities not being downzoned to A-1. Haven’t even had time to analyze all the implications and more importantly neither have the people in the areas being up zoned. None of them have any idea what is coming. None of the local inhabitants have taken the time, or really have the expertise, to examine the very confusing maps showing the zoning changes to various neighborhoods and understand the adverse impact these zoning changes will have. They don’t even get to vote on it. The corner of Lincoln and Altadena drive is being up zoned to H-30. 30 units on the corner of Lincoln and Altadena Drive. Do you have any idea what impact a 30 unit apartment on the corner of Lincoln and Altadena Drive is going to have on traffic, over crowding, the character of Altadena, an equestrian oriented community? Did you look at these implications Michael D Bicay PHD? Can’t you use your PHD to conduct these kinds of studies? These are just a few examples. This is the kind of insane development that is being implemented all over the greater Los Angeles area and now, if this measure is passed by the Board of Supervisors, it is coming to Altadena. Stack and pack apartments are essentially nicely designed prisons and that is what they are intended to be. . That is what we will get. This is a radical restructuring into a high density, high traffic, overcrowded environment of Altadena by unelected bureaucrats working in the back room with little to no input from those affected. Please oppose this plan and sign the petition asking our supervisors to take this back to the drawing board with a ground up approach and thorough analysis of the implications to any changes made to our communities. https://www.change.org/p/halt-the-top-down-approach-to-rezoning-across-los-angeles-county-s-9-unincorporated-areas?utm_medium=custom_url&utm_source=share_petition&recruited_by_id=57daaab1-7f34-11ef-8c8d-5586993b52a7

  3. Why does this article merely parrot the claims LA county has made. LA county claims they did extensive outreach, well why are so many in the dark about it? LA county claims it is attempting to preserve the foothills well why did La Vina happen with A-1 zoning? Have you all reached out to community members who were around then to get their take on what happened? Why is this rezoning top down and in stark contrast to previous zoning changes in our community? This plan is so dense and complex but they are voting on this to enact it in December. Why are they in such a rush to enact this? Please do your own research and do not merely listen to anything parroting the county. Locals who have concerns in this community who have been here for generations probably know what’s better for us because they have been a part of the very fabric that created the community. Unelected bureaucrats in the concrete jungle who have never walked our streets enacting zone changes behind a computer screen is absurd. If anything, please consider signing this petition to slow this down, to empower our community to influence our own future, and enact a process that adheres to principles of local representative democracy for any rezoning proposed in our communities. Everyone including these authors should be behind this. Local representative democracy is what we should he shooting for not a dictatorship. https://www.change.org/Halt_TopDown_LAcounty_Rezoning

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