In March 2021, City Planning director Vince Bertoni released a memo explaining the department's decision to exclude from the Mulholland Scenic Parkway's Specific Plan's review process portions of the Mulholland Drive corridor that are not visible from the road. The NCSA is concerned that this reinterpretation of the plan may reduce the City's ability to protect our wildland urban interface and manage our threatened natural resources, especially as the City's wildlife corridor and ridgeline protection policies have yet to be adopted. We support the motion in Council File 21-1286 (Blumenfield, Bonin, Koretz, and Raman), which asks City Planning to report back within 90 days on how the plan is in substantial conformance with the intent to manage development in environmentally sensitive areas in the absence of Design Review Board review for all projects, visible and non-visible, and to also provide updates on both the Wildlife Pilot Study and identification of land that might be appropriate for conservation as determined by trustees such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Additional sources include:
https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/22231-critical-steps-to-save-the-mulholland-scenic-parkway-specific-plan
https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/protect-critical-la-wildlife--habitats-from-over-development?promoid=7013q000002FlsEAAS
https://www.clawonline.org/mulholland-corridor-advocacy

NCSA representatives voted November 14, 2021 to support the motion in Council File 21-1286. Our public comment is here.

City Council voted 13-0 to support the motion December 3. Now we await the report.

Updated December 8, 2021