UMCA Upper Mandeville Canyon Property Owners’ Association P. O. BOX 49845 Los Angeles, California 90049 www.uppermandeville.org

Board of Directors

Eric Badener John Binder Barrett Carrere Natalie Carrere Ophir Finkelthal

Tom Freeman Dan Fried Louise Gonzalez Jillian Kleiner

Lilly Lucas James Provenzano Wendy-Sue Rosen Alice Rudnick

JoAnn Schoemann Jamie Schwartzman Ted Travis Julia Weinstein Jim Wright

February 24, 2011 Mulholland Design Review Board c/o Los Angeles City Planning Department Mulholland Specific Plan Staff 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 351 Van Nuys, CA 91401 Re: Mulholland Bridge Realignment Project Dear Board Members: The Upper Mandeville Canyon Property Owners’ Association (“UMCA”), formed in 1956, represents the approximately 300 families residing in the upper section of Mandeville Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. Upper Mandeville is surrounded on three sides by open space. The northernmost boundary of our neighborhood is the unpaved (dirt) section of Mulholland Drive. As a community of hikers, joggers, cyclists, and nature lovers, we enjoy the scenic and recreational opportunities provided by the Mulholland Scenic Parkway. And many homes in our neighborhood are within the inner and outer corridors of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, as illustrated by the attached Specific Plan Maps. The UMCA opposes the realignment of the Mulholland Bridge, the widening of Skirball Center Drive, the massive amounts of grading into the Skirball Center Drive hillside, and the installation of huge retaining walls to support the graded slopes. The realignment of the Mulholland Bridge off of its continuous scenic ridgeline path along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains, and the accompanying grading and retaining walls, would degrade the aesthetic and recreational resources that the Specific Plan was implemented to protect. Unless a realignment can be designed to avoid these environmental impacts, Metro should proceed with the previous, EIR-approved reconstruction of the existing Bridge.

Mulholland Design Review Board

February 24, 2011

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Mulholland Bridge in approx. 1962 during construction of the I-405

Rendering of reconstructed Mulholland Bridge, expected completion date 2013

Mulholland Design Review Board

February 24, 2011

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Our community has consistently fought to protect the natural beauty of the Santa Monica Mountains. The “scenic and recreational resources” of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway “form a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, [which is] unique to a major urban area, recognized by Federal, State and local plans and programs; and that the Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Plan, approved by the United States Secretary of the Interior, calls for coordinated development within the Mulholland Scenic Parkway to ensure consistency with the objectives of said plan.” (See Specific Plan, page 2, attached). The Mulholland Design Review Board’s February 17, 2011, motion reflects its understanding that the Mulholland Scenic Parkway is a treasured resource for all of the people of Los Angeles and that the project as currently designed would significantly diminish the Parkway’s scenic and recreational amenities. We join the Federation of Canyon and Hillside Associations, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Canyon Back Alliance, Brentwood Residents Coalition, and Bel Air Skycrest Property Owners’ Association in requesting that the City of Los Angeles reject the proposed realignment because the project has not been subjected to the level of environmental analysis necessary to determine the scope of significant impacts. If Metro proceeds with a realignment of the Mulholland Bridge, the City must initiate a full environmental impact report as required by State law. Sincerely,

Jim Wright – President Upper Mandeville Canyon Association cc: Canyon Back Alliance

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Boundary Definition Map Series Key

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Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan

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MULHOLLAND SCENIC PARKWAY SPECIFIC PLAN

An ordinance establishing a specific plan for the Mulholland ScenicParkway.

WHEREAS, Mulholland Drive, opened in 1924, makes available to all peoplespectacular mountain, ocean and city views, and scenic and recreationalopportunities from the Hollywood Freeway to the westerly Los Angeles City-County boundary line; and

WHEREAS, these amenities and resources are valuable to the city as awhole, and should be protected and enhanced by means of land use anddesign controls tailored to the physical character of the Mulholland ScenicParkway and Santa Monica Mountains; and

WHEREAS, these scenic and recreational resources form a portion of theSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, unique to a major urbanarea, recognized by Federal, State and local plans and programs; and

WHEREAS, the Santa Monica Mountains Comprehensive Plan, approvedby the United States Secretary of the Interior, calls for coordinateddevelopment within the Mulholland Scenic Parkway to ensure consistencywith the objectives of said plan; and

WHEREAS, the Scenic Highways Plan, a part of the Circulation Elementof Los Angeles City's General Plan, designates the Mulholland ScenicParkway as a scenic highway and mandates that scenic corridor specificplans be prepared for each designated scenic highway consisting of corridorboundaries and specific controls for the protection and enhancement ofscenic resources, individually tailored to the unique character of eachdesignated scenic highway; and

WHEREAS, the City's other adopted General Plan elements, including theOpen Space Plan and portions of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest District Plan, theBrentwood-Pacific Palisades District Plan, the Encino-Tarzana District Plan,and the Sherman Oaks-Studio City-Toluca Lake District Plan also call fora specific plan and/or other plans and ordinances to assure protection ofMulholland Drive as a scenic corridor; and

WHEREAS, sensitive development assured by a specific plan whichintegrates the transportation, land use and recreation aspects of the scenicparkway will create a low-intensity, low-volume, slow-speed, parkway-typesetting; and

WHEREAS, such specific plan implements the spirit and intent of therecommendations and guidelines contained in the Report of the CitizensAdvisory Committee on the Mulholland Scenic Parkway adopted by the CityCouncil on March 26, 1973; and