Update #10: Development in Silver Spur Canyon
We hope everyone had a great holiday season. Here’s what’s new regarding Rancho Palos Verdes' Housing Element and Silver Spur Canyon:
DEVELOPER’S PROGRESS
As of Thursday, the developer has not yet submitted any plans for the canyon nor has he filed a builder's remedy application. All this is nice, but it’s still looks like the City of Rancho Palos Verdes will not be able to get its Housing Element fully approved until the spring, leaving us vulnerable to builder's remedy applications and the placement of a large development anywhere in the city, bypassing any zoning restrictions.
LEGAL ACTION
If you recall from previous updates, the developer who bought Silver Spur Canyon was threatening to tear down neighbors' fences. We hired a Land Use attorney who has communicated with the developer, and so far the developer has not followed through on his threats.
What can you do?
Help us pay for the attorney to further investigate methods for preventing development in Silver Spur Canyon; methods that hopefully would be useful if any other builder tries to do the same anywhere else in Rancho Palos Verdes (perhaps in your neighborhood!). We now have nonprofit status, so anything you can afford to donate is both appreciated and tax deductible.
Here is our GoFundMe:
Fundraiser by Aurora R : SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD (gofundme.com)
ALSO! Help us with our efforts to get the City of Rancho Palos Verdes declared “in substantial compliance” with the Housing Element submission process, which closes down the builder's remedy avenue for developers. The California State Office of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has the ability to make this declaration without our Housing Element being fully approved. Our city has made a good faith effort to get our Housing Element approved, but has been rejected several times by HCD. We don’t deserve to be vulnerable to builder's remedy projects when we are trying to comply with the law! Any out of place development built under the builder's remedy (like a 5 story apartment building in a single family residence neighborhood) will never be unbuilt. Once the developer submits a Builder’s Remedy application, the project can go forward even after our Housing Element is approved by the state, so we must act now.
Please call or write our state representatives and ask them to pressure HCD to declare Rancho Palos Verdes in “substantial compliance” with our housing element requirement. PHONE CALLS always have the biggest impact, but if you prefer to write, I’ve attached a couple of example letters you can quickly modify and send to both our State Assemblyman and our State Senator (Thank you Dave Matharu and Bill and June Conrad)
State Senator Ben Allen / Senate District 24
1021 O Street, Suite 6610
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 651-4024
Senator.Allen@senate.CA.gov
State Assemblyman, Al Muratsuchi / Assembly District 66
Capitol Swing Space
1021 O Street, Suite 5610
Sacramento, CA 94249-0066
(916) 319-2066
Thank you! Together, we can stop the tearing apart of the fabric of our neighborhoods.
