This is an 6-14-01 Email news letter sent by Gerald Silver for "Stop the Noise"

Subject: REMINDER - VNY PART 150 MTG. JUNE 21, 2001 - 7 PM - AIRTEL To: Parties Interested in Van Nuys Airport Noise From: Gerald A. Silver, Pres. Homeowners of Encino Stop the Noise! Coalition email: gsilver@sprintmail.com 

I have asked staff to schedule the next meeting on Thursday, June 21, 2001. The meeting will again be held at the Airtel Plaza Hotel at 7:00 p.m.

The attached agenda reflects the five remaining mitigation measures that will be addressed at the next meeting. As I indicated in my previous correspondence, it is my hope and expectation that we can consider and vote upon each of these measures and add the desired ones to the measures approved in our earlier meetings. When this process is completed we should have a comprehensive and effective NCP to submit to the Board of Airport Commissioners. Once again, thank you for your commitment to this effort and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

MES:DQ:dq Attachment cc: R. Johnson P. Depoian

STOP THE NOISE! COALITION LETTER TO BOAC 

06/13/2001 Mr. Maurice Laham Environmental Management Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Committee

 RE: MOTION TO RECONSIDER NOISE SENSITIVE AREAS, AND REQUEST THAT BOAC TAKE NO ACTION ON VNY PART 150 UNTIL NEW BOARD IS IN PLACE 

Several pieces of key information have come to light that relate to the deliberations of the VNY Part 150 Steering Committee. I believe that Item #7, Establishing "Noise Sensitive Areas," should be RECONSIDERED by the Steering Committee. During the discussion at the last meeting, claims were made to the effect that "the entire Valley is noise sensitive," and therefore there was no purpose in establishing such areas around Van Nuys Airport (VNY).

It is unfortunate that the Committee did not have before it critical pieces of information that should have been reviewed before they took action.

Clearly some areas of the Valley are more noise sensitive than other areas.

I am enclosing several items that I would like distributed to the Steering Committee in advance of the June 21st Committee meeting. These items address "Noise Sensitive Areas" (Item #7 and route equalization (Item #10):

1. Color map, published by the Los Angeles Planning Department that depicts land uses around VNY. This map clearly shows open space, public lands, housing, light and heavy industrial areas and the like. This should be studied by all members of the Steering Committee, before making recommendations regarding noise sensitive areas (Item #7), or route equalization measures (Item #10), to be heard on June 21st.

2. Article from the Los Angeles Times, June 10, 2001, "Limited Use of Santa Monicas Is Urged." This article describes Santa Monica Mountain parklands that the National Park Service has earmarked for recreational low-intensity use. The Santa Monica mountains are "one of the last Mediterranean-type ecosystems, and it shelters nine federally listed endangered animals...The Santa Monicas are also a cherished refuge for hikers, cyclists, equestrians and everyone else seeking an escape form the urban blanket of asphalt." They deserve the "noise sensitive" designation Page 2 In light of this information I believe that these matters need to be given careful consideration. I am therefore asking that each item above, including the land use color map be distributed to each Committee member, and that Item #7 be RECONSIDERED, and that this material be evaluated before taking action on Item #10, route equalization measures.

It is also important to allow adequate time to consider a total night-time curfew on all jet operations, both arrival and departures except for emergencies (Item #18). The Steering Committee needs to fully evaluate the impact of a total jet and helicopter ban (except for emergencies). Therefore adequate time needs to be set aside at the June 21st meeting to fully consider this matter. The Committee needs to be provided with detailed analysis of the number and types of jets and helicopters that arrive and depart VNY during night hours. I ask that the Committee be given a copy of the Night Departure/Arrival logs for the past year, including the log of night Helicopter operations. These reports are available from LAWA. This will allow the Committee to make a reasoned determination regarding Item #18 (A total night-time curfew on ALL jet operations, both arrival and departures (except emergencies) between 10 pm and 7 am. This item is extremely important and should not be glossed over.

Finally I would like the Committee to consider some additional matters before concluding its deliberations:

I am very concerned by the "rapid fire" nature in which the Steering Committee's work is being drawn to a close. The Part 150 Study has faltered for ten years, with little or no progress being made. Now that some constructive and concrete measures have been adopted, the lame duck BOAC is seeking to rush closure before all matters have been fully considered. I am particularly concerned that the June 21st meeting was called only a couple of weeks after the May 29th meeting. Several Committee members were out of the country for the past two weeks. The short time between meetings does not give them, nor the public, or panel members adequate time to gather and study data before the June 21st meeting. The amount of work that needs to be done may require at least one more meetings before submitting the Committee's recommendations to the BOAC.

I am also very concerned that the lame duck BOAC may not agree with many of the Steering Committee's recommendations and may thus "toss out", ignore of overlook many of the key recommendations. Please see the attached letter from the Los Angeles City Council to LAWA, expressing "outrage" in the manner in which the Retlaw project has moved forward, without adequate review. The lame duck BOAC should not take any action on the Committee's recommendations until a new BOAC is in place and reflects the new Los Angeles City administration.

In this regard, I urge the panel to consider the following MOTION:

Page 3 "MOVED-- that the Part 150 Steering Committee has worked diligently to assess all possible noise mitigation measures for the VNY Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study, and has evaluated each item, in light of the FAA's assessment. The Steering Committee moves that LAWA hold its recommendations until a new BOAC is in place, and then submit each item recommended by the Steering Committee to the FAA for inclusion in the final recommendations, and not edit, delete for overlook any recommendation."

Cordially yours, Gerald A. Silver President--Homeowners of Encino, Stop the Noise! Coalition cc: Elected officials, homeowner associations enc.

LA TIMES ARTICLE: JUNE 10, 2001

Limited Use of Santa Monicas Is Urged Open space

: Park Service plan would earmark 80% of the recreational area for low-intensity use. By SUE FOX, Times Staff Writer Determined to preserve open space, the National Park Service favors a plan to guide visitors away from much of the fragile landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains. It represents the latest effort to balance conservation of natural resources with access for the taxpayers who have spent more than $420 million to create the nation's largest urban recreation area, a place many Angelenos consider their wild backyard.

With a tide of development licking at the fringes of the 150,000-acre Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, planners have opted for a preservationist ethic that eventually could limit recreational uses. The plan earmarks 80% of the land for low-intensity use: [and low noise without the scream of the Van Nuys jets] no overnight camping and no pets. Hiking, biking and horseback riding would be limited to designated trails. Facilities such as restrooms would be primitive (think wooden outhouses as opposed to cinder-block buildings housing rows of flush toilets). Visitors would probably be shepherded onto formal trails rather than left to wander over improvised paths.

Parking, signage and even rangers may be strategically used to guide people toward well-traveled routes like the Backbone Trail. The plan also encourages people to visit during off-peak times such as weekdays and to use shuttle buses instead of cars to reach the mountains. Now, just 30% of the recreation area--including most of the public parkland--is considered subject to low-intensity use. "The current thought is to try to hold on to the green spaces," said Adrienne Anderson, the National Park Service manager who supervised drafting of the plan.

"When you look at an aerial photo, you have this little island of green in this huge area of development sprawling into the desert. It's frightening," she said. "It's all that's left." Established by Congress in 1978, the recreation area's 235 square miles unfurl over 43 miles of mountains, valleys and coastline, from Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County to Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

It is one of the world's last Mediterranean-type ecosystems, and it shelters nine federally listed endangered animals--including brown pelicans and southern steelhead trout--and three endangered plants. The Santa Monicas are also a cherished refuge for hikers, cyclists, equestrians and everyone else seeking an escape from the urban blanket of asphalt. The recreation area's mandate is not only to protect nature, but also to "offer compatible recreation and education programs accessible to a diverse public," according to its mission statement. 

About 33 million visitors use the area each year, nearly 10 times the 3.4 million who visit Yosemite, according to the National Park Service. Growth Spreads Into Mountains Most prefer the beaches, with fewer than 10% venturing into the mountains. And though there is little evidence that hikers and cyclists have degraded the Santa Monicas, park officials are concerned about a broader trend of population growth and unchecked development.

The combined population of Los Angeles and Ventura counties has soared from 8 million in 1980 to nearly 10.3 million last year. The growth has crept into the mountains as builders flatten hillsides to put up new subdivisions. In the western Santa Monicas, for instance, Los Angeles County officials have manipulated the local growth plan to allow developers to erect 2,200 homes on land designated for 1,000. The vast majority of the recreation area remains undeveloped, and the new federal plan--the first revision in nearly 20 years--aims to keep it that way.

By the time the final version is released in December, the plan will have incorporated suggestions from more than 70 local, state and federal agencies and 10 public meetings. The 470-page document, written with the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, offers a broad-brush vision that would set the direction for more detailed plans to come. It describes five scenarios that emphasize varying degrees of preservation, education and recreation, but recommends the option that highlights resource preservation. 

Under this alternative, visitors would be guided away from sensitive resources such as archeological sites and toward high-intensity areas such as Paramount Ranch or the campgrounds at Malibu Creek State Park. That would minimize human impact on large belts of wildlife habitat. The plan also proposes limited development, including an education center at Mugu Lagoon, an expanded campground for Circle X Ranch, a film history museum at Paramount Ranch, and a coastal boat tour that docks at the Santa Monica and Malibu piers. The new offerings would give people more to do at a few centralized locations, leaving the bulk of the parkland in a natural state. "I think what they're trying to do is to focus the disturbance in as concentrated an area as they can, "said Rosi Dagit, a conservation biologist with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, a state agency. "When you try to concentrate use in a few places, you sort of agree that you're going to lose those, in terms of their biological integrity, over time," she said.

"That's the trade-off for protecting the rest." Plan Called Framework for Future Use So what does this mean for the thousands of visitors who romp through these hills on knobby-tired mountain bikes or along trails atop horses? Where will it leave hikers, bird-watchers and picnickers? There will still be a place for all those activities, said Art Eck, the recreation area's superintendent. The plan is a framework for future use, Eck said, not a blueprint for individual sites and trails. Decisions on which trails to close or reroute will follow over the next few years, as the Park Service devises a separate scheme for the

769 miles of trails wending through the recreation area. "I think they're on the right track," said Milt McAuley, a well-known hiker and the author of seven trail guides to the mountains. "I look at it two different ways: I want to go hiking, but the trail does not help the environment. . . . And the environment is more important than anything else." The plan's authority is limited, because more than half of the recreation area is privately owned. Two decades ago the National Park Service intended to buy

35,000 acres here within five years, but uneven federal funding and soaring land prices slowed the acquisition effort. The Park Service holds about 22,000 acres--14% of the overall area--and the state (including the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy) owns about 26%.

Although the new plan sketches a vision for the entire area, it cannot dictate use for private parcels. It merely prescribes how land should be used after it is acquired by a public agency. "For much of the area, the hiking experience will be the Santa Monica Mountains experience," said Rep.

Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills), who as a state legislator in the late 1970s led the movement to create the mountains conservancy. "I think it's a very good plan." More Than 100 Testify at Hearings Public reaction has been largely positive--"which was kind of shocking to us because we expected more controversy," Anderson conceded. More than 100 people testified during public hearings in February. "I think it's a good balance between preservation and access," said Rich Ambrose, a mountain biker who lives in Agoura Hills, according to a transcript. "I'm pleased to see that mountain biking will be allowed on the designated trails in the low-intensity areas." 

Others objected that the plan does not allow for enough recreation. "I don't believe a plan which locks up these public lands as a preserve, as a 'do not touch' area . . . is really what the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area was formed to be," said Don Schmitz, a resident who testified at a Malibu hearing. Park officials said their aim is not to cordon off the mountains, but to encourage people and nature to coexist in a way that benefits both. "We're not trying to make decisions about whether people should be in the Santa Monica Mountains or not," Eck said. "They already are, and in fact the challenge is figuring out how to harmonize that [with natural resources], because they will always be part of the landscape." Copyright © 2001 Los Angeles Times

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