How Fifth District Residents Fought the LUE and Won

The recent Land Use Element (LUE) measure before the city council was preceded by an unprecedented amount of protests and lobbying activity in at least two neighborhoods in the Fifth District.

According to Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association (LVNA) president Bruce Demille, based on reaction sheets from his constituents, no one favored the proposal to rezone Parkview Village as mixed use or to add several hundred condos to the center at Carson and Bellflower.

This condo proposal was revealed by the owner of the majority of Parkview Village, Ben Efraim at an early February meeting with Lakewood Village residents at Cirivello’s, where everyone who responded was in opposition.

Efraim presented a take it or leave it proposal, as “change is inevitable. What would you like to see? A two-story parking structure or two-story townhomes?”

The answer was neither. Leave Parkview Village as is. And that’s how things worked out.

“At the first meeting, I was concerned up to that point,” said DeMille, who got up on the stage with Efraim to counter his proposals. “That’s why I had 1,000 ballot questionnaires, which turned out to be very powerful. Not a single one I’ve seen so far, indicated any support of Ben’s vision,” that being a zoning change to mixed use, which would permit the addition of condos to the village.

Things were not different at a second meeting held by Efraim, who differed with DeMille over the number of townhouse or apartment  units that would be built were mixed use granted. “They never wanted to talk with us,” said DeMille, who said the original proposal was for four stories. Finally, “we met with him with several members of government relations committee. In the third meeting, it was 300 units. 54 units per acre.”

Efraim said the plan was for between 240 and 250 units, or around 44 per acre. “The 300 reference was the limit of 54 units per acre,” said Parkview Village Manager Jim Ault.

About one month after this Cirivello’s meeting, the final council vote was held. DeMille readily admits he had a stunt in mind involving the paper questionnaires. “They were in the bag I held up” in his testimony. “I wanted to give the council a visual, put it in a clear plastic bag. I told them, ‘I’m the bag man.’”

“Ben Efraim wasn’t at the council meeting. Nobody represented Parkview Village,” said DeMille. “I don’t quite know what to make of it. He maybe has another plan, kind of looking into that right now.” In fact, no commercial property owner testified at the council meeting.

In the so-called bow-tie development bisected by Los Coyotes Diagonal and Palo Verde Avenue, the situation was the opposite of Parkview Village. According to Fifth District council candidate Corliss Lee, the area was already mixed use, changed at the council meeting to two-story commercial. “That’s what it’s zoned now, earlier it was three-story mixed use.”

Keynote Street resident Rex Hurley, whose home was actually part of the mixed-used zoning as part of upper bow-tie, recalled “I was going to have a big ass apartment looking in my backyard.” Hurley had no idea of the LUE until a neighbor approached him on November 1 and asked him how he was going to deal with the new zoning. Hurley met with Fifth District Councilwoman Stacy Mungo and asked, how do we stop this? “She told me, ‘well, the vote is going to be a week away. Get everybody together.’” In a week? Hurley wondered how that could be done.

Lacking any neighborhood association similar to what DeMille had going for him, Hurley put long discussion strings on NextDoor and set up at Starbucks meetings.  With Iroquois Avenue resident Pamela Rice, Hurley set up the “Get Five” initiative, designed to have every concerned person send out emails to five people. “The person who lives across the street and the people next door and the people across the street from them, and ask them to do the same to spread the word,” potentially a force of 50,000.

Hurley found the LUE had been in planning stages for 11 years, but only when the city released the plan in June 2017 did they inform residents, and only those within “two blocks from where it’s happening,” said Hurley.

Hurley attended a mayor’s roundtable as a Fifth District representative and talked about “what a disaster it would be. My argument was if nobody knows about it, then nobody can vote for it,” said Hurley. “I was pushing to get the information out.” Hurley wondered why water bills did not have stuffers with information about the plan.

Hurley’s group put up signs. Area resident Pamela Branch said, “We had orange ‘no on density’ lawn signs posted before the council meetings.” Demille said that he was in touch with Hurley, as both were battling the LUE, but neither coordinated any activities.

At the end, the city council voted down the more controversial aspects of the Fifth District LUE. Lee granted that “Stacy did come through and take the density out of there. She was up against the wall. That was the smartest move she could make to hang on to her seat.”

Hurley credited Lee with discovering SB35, “which started this whole thing.” Rice recalled she “followed Corliss Lee like crazy before I knew she was running.” Rice met with apathy some among residents, thus doubts this fight could result in a neighborhood association. “I was intrigued with what Bruce was doing. Rex and I were letting all of our communities know. Rex and I were the most informed and most vocal, it’s disturbing how many people didn’t know about it.”

Asked about Parkview Village’s plans after LUE was voted down, Ault said, “We haven’t gotten that far yet. I don’t want to say anything, but things are being discussed.”

After the council vote, DeMille posted on NextDoor, “I want to personally offer a ‘thank you very much’ to Stacy Mungo and all of our Lakewood Village residents, and nearby neighborhoods that supported us in our “David & Goliath” fight. We won!”

steve@beachcomber.news