The undersigned residents of the City of Los Angeles submit this Open Letter to Councilmember Mike Bonin to Oppose the Eldercare Project at 1525 Palisades Drive in the Pacific Palisades Highlands:

Dear Councilmember Bonin,

We call on your support to overturn City Planning’s misguided decision to approve permits for the proposed eldercare facility cited above. City Planning’s decision rubber-stamped the developer’s application despite obvious violations of CEQA, the California Coastal Act, City zoning ordinances, and provisions of the Brentwood-Pacific Palisades Community Plan.

• City Planning’s decision would put the lives of up to 96 dementia care and assisted living patients at risk in an official “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone” completely contrary to the Coastal Act and the City’s own policies.  Recent fires throughout California and the L.A. region should make you and the City Council more vigilant about protecting seniors. We support senior housing needs -- but the law, and simple common sense, dictate this site is unfit for use as an eldercare facility.
• City Planning’s decision grants an illegal CEQA exemption despite evidence from City and 3rd-party experts indicating geosoils problems at this wilderness-edge site. The developer plans an unprecedented amount of earth movement in and from the Highlands, including excavation in hillside bluffs, to accommodate a massive 66,000sf 6-story structure with 2 subterranean levels. This project will create dangerous levels of dust, pollution, and noise with no requirements for the developer to mitigate or even monitor these adverse environmental effects. On top of completely ignoring CEQA, City Planning is brazenly allowing at least 20% more size than the City’s own zoning rules currently allow.
• City Planning’s decision egregiously violates both the spirit and exact language provisions of the Coastal Act which protects against destroying our most treasured wilderness areas. The City has a legal obligation to protect the Santa Ynez Park immediately adjacent to the project’s site as well as the beloved Topanga State Park whose mountains and trails completely surround the site in all directions. Both Parks and the site are within the Coastal Zone and subject to the protection of the Coastal Act.  City Planning’s decision obliterates protected scenic views in and of these precious parklands, and severely impairs citizens’ and tourists’ recreation and enjoyment for generations to come.

In closing, we, your constituents, demand that you express your view on this important matter, and we hope that you rightly state that this ill-fated project does not comply with applicable laws and that City Planning’s injudicious decision must be overturned.

Respectfully,

-- HUG Palisades -- http://hugpali.org/