VNC Board of Officers Meeting Agenda

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

2. Approval of the Agenda

3. Approval of any outstanding minutes submitted by the Secretary

March 18, 2008 Board Meeting Minutes
(see http://venicenc.org/files/080318VNCBoardMinutes-Draft.doc)

4. Committee Reports (no more than 1 minute per report)

5. Scheduled Announcements (no more than 1 minute per report unless otherwise stated)

A DONE, LAPD, and Governmental Reports

Linda Lucks (310-450-2554; Lindalucks@aol.com) on behalf of BONC & DONE: Request for all board members to fill out and submit the BONC/DONE board member survey and plan an outreach method to solicit and submit Stakeholder Surveys as requested by DONE by June.

B Mike Newhouse (310-305-9660; president@ venicenc,org): DeDe Audet has been nominated for the CelebrateLA Volunteer Of The Year Award for service to the community. The awards will be announced on April 27 at the Rose Bowl and VNC Board members and stakeholders are encouraged to attend and give support.

C Marc Saltzberg (310-305-9660; outreach@venicenc,org) on behalf of Steve Clare: The Homelessness Task Force was formed after the Town Hall on Homelessness to review the recommendations made at that meeting and put those recommendations into a form that was actionable by the Venice Neighborhood Council Board. The Task Force was asked for a report by the April Meeting. The Task Force is not ready to make its final report, complete with a list of actionable items and asks that its charge be extended until the May Meeting. The Task Force would like to offer an interim report on it activities at the April Board Meeting. The Task Force will need 5 minutes to make its interim report.

D Marc Saltzberg (310-305-9660; outreach@VeniceNC.org): The following was referred to the Outreach Committee:
From Phil Raider (310-399-4449; philraider@msn.com):
“Can members of the VNC request to be on a list to automatically receive agendas for committee meetings? If our website doesn’t offer this option can the VNC send agendas for Board and LUPC meetings automatically? … this could become email overkill but I’m certain it would boost attendance.”
The Outreach Committee voted on the following motion:
“The Venice Neighborhood Council should provide stakeholders with the capability to “subscribe” to agendas, that is, agendas will be emailed to the subscribing stakeholder when it is posted. This capability will be provided as soon as the VNC Communications Officer deems that the capability is technically feasible.”
The motion passed unanimously. The Communications Officer, Sean Kelly was in attendance and voted for the motion. We suggest that the board send a letter to Phil Raider advising him of its intent to provide the capability he requested as soon as it is technically feasible to do so.

E Linda Lucks (310-450-2554; Lindalucks@aol.com): Venice Garden Tour to happen on May 31, 2008.

6. Announcements & Public Comment on items not on the Agenda (15 min, no more than 2 minutes per person) no board announcements

7. Old Business

8. Treasurers Report – circulate early draft budget for Board & public consideration accept report as presented

9. New Business

A From President

I Nominations and Vote on Community Officer position vacancy.

II Vote on LUPC vacancy.

III Ratification of Julie Martinez (E. Ballona) & Nick Hippisley-Coxe (W. Ballona) as members of Neighborhood Committee.

B From Rules & Elections Committee

I REC recommends (2-0) that Board adopt the following amendment to Standing Rule 7 clarifying the procedure for processing letters:

Any letter requests shall include a draft letter as well as the names and address of proposed recipients. Proponents of the letter shall prepare a draft and email it to the President for review, edit and signature. The President shall return the approved version by email to the proponents with a copy to the Secretary for VNC records. Proponents of the letter shall then copy and send the approved letter.

C From LUPC

I Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of LUPC: That VNC Board of Officers approve LUPC report and recommendation on 728 Indiana and 732 Indiana, AA 2007-5250 PMLS SL, ENV 2007-5251 EAF, ZA 2007-5263 CDP SPP ZAA MEL, and AA 2007-5253 SL, ENV 2007-5254 EAF, ZA 2007-5292 CDP SPP ZAA MEL, as submitted: “Approve the project as per Section 5 Definitions, sub paragraph T, entitled Replacement Affordable Unit, page 5, of the VCZSP, to wit, ‘Any affordable housing unit to be provided as replacement for an existing unit on a Venice Coastal Development Project site. Affordable housing units are dwelling units or guest rooms for which rental or mortgage payments do not exceed the limits stated in Section 65915 of the California Government Code. Dwelling units or guest rooms designated for lower income
households, as defined in Section 50079.5 of the California Health and Safety Code, shall have rents not exceeding 30 percent of 60 percent of the area median income as set forth on a rent schedule prepared by the City’s Housing Department or any successor agency. In order for a Venice Coastal Development Project to qualify as a project containing affordable housing units, the owner shall record a document with the Los Angeles County Recorder guaranteeing that these affordability criteria will be observed for at least 30 years from the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy.’, and approve a 10’ passage way between 728 and 732 Indiana which divides into a 5’ setback from the common property line. Moved by Dennis Hathaway, seconded by Arnold Springer and passed 5-0-0.

II Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of LUPC: That VNC Board of Officers approve LUPC report and recommendation on 338 Rennie Avenue, AA 2007-4956 PMLA, as submitted: Approve the project as presented with the roof height as on the presented diagram, alley access and eliminate the current Rennie Avenue curb cut in front of the project.
Moved by Arnold Springer, Seconded by Dennis Hathaway and passed 4-1-0.

III Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of LUPC: That VNC Board of Officers approve LUPC report and recommendation regarding 630 East Broadway, ENV 2008-609 Categorical Exemption, ZA 2008-610 Zoning Administration Determination as per LAMC 12.27, as submitted: That the VNC Board of Officers recommend approval of the project as presented, with the fence height not to exceed three and one half feet above natural grade, and the pedestrian entry gate not to exceed a peak height of ten feet eleven inches and a width, including supporting pilasters, of six and three quarters feet. This decision could be considered somewhat controversial in three ways: It recommends that the applicant modify her fence height
down, in contrast with a fair number of fences in that area, it recommends that a tall pedestrian gate be allowed and, by otherwise approving “as presented,” recommends creation of a brand new curb cut in an area where new curb cuts are usually considered detrimental.

IV Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of LUPC: That VNC Board of Officers approve LUPC report and recommendation regarding 916 South Main Street, DIR 2008-307 VSO, as submitted: Motion (made by Jim Murez, seconded by Maury Ruano, passed 4-0-1) to approve the project as presented, with the following requirements:
1. Applicant to plant three large species trees for shade in parking lot where drawings indicate trees to be planted;
2. Applicant to have only one driveway (not two) 30 feet in width on Main Street
3. Applicant to remove all curb cuts on property, with the exception of aforementioned driveway on Main Street

D From Budget & Finance

I Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of Budget Committee: That VNC Board of Officers approve $2,000.00 for music for “Venice Annuale”, a two month sculpture event, accompanied by musical performances, to be held this year in Venice Centennial Park. This was also passed unanimously by the Arts committee by a vote of 6 – 0 with the Chair abstaining.
II Challis Macpherson (Chair-LUPC@VeniceNC.org) on behalf of Budget Committee: That VNC Board of Officers approve an expenditure not to exceed $1,500.00 for purchase of a projection system, including projector screen & laptop computer & software, to be used at VNC meetings, including all board & committee meetings. The Budget and Finance Committee is encouraged to explore the purchase of used equipment.
E From Stakeholder

I Valerie Lynn Williams (310-902-6943):

Whereas the Mayor wants each council district to sell city owned property in order to help balance city budget shortfalls and

Whereas the City of Los Angeles should be researching and considering reducing wasteful spending habits before selling property that could be better used to serve the community, especially with the shortage of affordable housing.

Valerie Lynn Williams hereby submits this motion for a full board vote at the next Venice Neighborhood Council Board meeting: (i) That Venice Neighborhood Council oppose selling city property or using surplus property in Venice to balance the city budget and furthermore support the use of city owned property or surplus property with an emphasis on affordable housing, particularly extremely low income, very low income, and low income housing and shelters and transitional housing. (ii) That the Venice Neighborhood Council then draft a letter supporting this approved motion and send it to Councilman Rosendahl, the Mayor, and the other neighborhood councils in CD11.

II Graham MacGillivray (310-560-9800; graham@gwm.name): Request an allocation of $4000 to improve the landscape and learning environment at Beethoven Elementary School.

10. Announcements & Public Comment on items not on the Agenda (15 min, no more than 2 minutes per person)

11. Adjourn (approx 9:30PM)

Location(s)

See map: Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps

Attachment	Size
080415VNCBoardAgenda.doc	91.5 KB
9CIa-728-732IndianaLUPCStaffReport.pdf	60.49 KB
9CIb-728-732IndianaDraftLUPCLetter.doc	35.5 KB
9CII-338RennieLUPCStaffReport.doc	92 KB
9CIII-630_Broadway_staff_report_final.pdf	112.49 KB
9CIV-916MainLUPCStaffReport.doc	92 KB
9DI-TheVeniceAnnualeBudget.doc	26.5 KB
9EIII-080415VillaragosaFundinfLetter.doc	47 KB