Public Comment Period Extended!

Wendy Greuel helps community receive 30 day extension

At the July 7th Town Hall Meeting, Dale Thrush, Planning Deputy for Council District #2, announced that former Councilmember Wendy Greuel had spoken with Gail Goldberg, Director of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, and the extension had been granted. We thank Wendy Greuel - and all those who wrote letters requesting an extension - for making this possible.

The end of the public comment period is now officially August 19.






















Verdugo Hills Golf Course


Play VHGC!

Grab your clubs, a couple of friends, and head on over to the VHGC for 9 or 18 holes of golf.

Visit Play VHGC! for basic information about the course, including prices, phone number and even an indepth review of the course.


AB 212 & the Verdugo Hills Golf Course

"This was a truly bad bill, in every sense of the word."
Los Angeles Daily News Editorial, June 9, 2008

A 2008 state zoning ordinance bill tailored to benefit MWH Development, could have provided the developer the zoning changes necessary for the proposed 229 unit housing development. The Los Angeles City Council, led by Councilmember Wendy Greuel, opposed the bill, which was eventually pulled by its sponsor, State Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes.

Read on for information about how this bill evolved and how it was stopped.




Special thanks to V.O.I.C.E. for providing webspace for the Save the Golf Course effort.

Saving the Verdugo Hills Golf Course property is one of V.O.I.C.E.'s current projects.

V.O.I.C.E.

Contact

Phone

(818) 249-0900

Fax

(661) 250-2008

Email

gcvoice@gcvoice.org

















Learn About
The Draft Environmental Impact Report



Go Directly to
The Draft Environmental Impact Report






Foothill Communities Come Together
in Support of the VHGC


It was standing room only at the July 7th Town Hall Meeting in Tujunga. Thank you to all of the community members who attended. Thank you for listening, asking questions, picking up bumper stickers and 'how to' flyers. Your presence spoke volumes.  More to come about the meeting in our next update...





Mark your calendar!

July 16 Fundraiser


Dominick’s is hosting a fundraiser for the Save the Golf Course effort. Join friends, family, and other community members show their support for the Verdugo Hills Golf Course and our quality of life here in the foothills.

Just let the good folks at Dominick's know that you are there for the golf course fundraiser and a portion of your receipt will be donated to the cause.  Thank you, Dominick’s, for your support!


Dominick’s Italian Restaurant
2948 Foothill Blvd
La Crescenta, CA 91214-3411
(818) 248-5680




MAKE A DONATION TO SAVE
THE GOLF COURSE
!

As the EIR process moves forward, we ask you to help us raise the funds we need to hire our own expert consultants to analyze the Draft EIR. The developer has unlimited funds. We just have each other.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to:
Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E.
P.O. Box 273
Montrose, Ca 91021

Every penny goes toward saving the Verdugo Hills Golf Course.





June 7th's "Community Guide to CEQA" Workshop provided an excellent review of the California Environmental Quality Act and it's critical role in the EIR process.

We thank the Planning and Conservation League Foundation for providing this service to our communities. Special appreciation to Doug Carstens for conducting the workshop and helping us better understand our role with regard to CEQA. Thank you also, Paul Gilligan, for making sure the event ran smoothly.



Special thanks to the organizations that arranged and sponsored the workshop:

Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council
Sunland-Tujunga Alliance
Glendale-Crescenta V.O.I.C.E.





The Verdugo Hills Golf Course

Established nearly fifty years ago, the Verdugo Hills Golf Course (VHGC) is a priceless historic and recreational resource, unique in greater Los Angeles. One of the few public courses where children can learn to golf, it is utilized by many high schools and community colleges for their golf programs and tournaments. Equally important, the VHGC provides a recreational opportunity for countless families through affordable and accessible golf. (Want to help? Download and distribute our petition!)

The Verdugo Hills Golf Course is a treasure to non-golfers as well, providing valued beauty and open space, as well as a spot of visual relief along the 210 Freeway. It has been a landmark of the community for decades and holds sentimental as well as historical value. It is believed to be the site of the ancient Tongva/Gabrielino village of Wakanga and during WWII it was the location of a Japanese internment depot. Today, community residents are working to seek historical status for the land.

Developer buys the golf course and the community responds

In early 2005, it was learned that MWH Development had purchased the golf course with plans for building a 320-unit condominium complex or a 300,000 square foot commercial complex. In June of that year, the developer met with residents of the Sunland-Tujunga area and presented their plans. The resounding response from the local residents was "Save the Golf Course!"

A year later the developer returned with revised plans in an effort to prove he was listening to the community. His new plans showed a nine-hole course surrounding a 269-unit condo complex, which apparently is what the developer called "listening".

In 2006, community leaders from Glendale, the Crescenta Valley, and Sunland-Tujunga gathered to form the Verdugo Hills Golf Course Committee with the express purpose of bringing all the communities together in a combined effort to save the golf course. While the golf course is located in the City of Los Angeles, it is only one block away from Glendale and about a half mile away from La Crescenta in Los Angles County. More importantly, the golf course is enjoyed by residents from each of these communities as well as many other cities in the region.

The Golf Course Committee settled on a strategy of bringing four parties together in order to purchase the golf course: The first three are Los Angeles City Councilmember Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, and Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian. Each of these individuals has - or should have - an interest seeing the golf course preserved for the benefit of their residents. And because the 63-acre golf course property is actually 3/5ths hillside open space, the fourth entity is the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. At the urging of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course Committee, these four parties have met together on one occasion, with separate meetings and conversations taking place as the situation warrants.

In June of 2007, MWH Development filed an application for a 229-unit detached single family housing project on the golf course site. The majority of the property is currently zoned A1-1 allowing only one house per five (5) acres, or RE-40-1, allowing one house per 40,000 square feet (almost one per acre). The developer's requested zoning change is for RD-5, which allows one house per 5,000 square feet!

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, an early supporter of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course, pledged $1.7 million towards the purchase of the property in November 2007.

At the end of November 2007 a Notice of Preparation was filed for an Environmental Impact Report. Public input was collected and the draft EIR is currently underway.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Wendy Greuel called for staff members of the four parties to meet and explore funding options for the purchase of the golf course and its extended property. Staff members met in February 2008 and again in April 2008 after the City of Los Angeles Recreation & Parks team surveyed the golf course property and determined it was in viable condition and in need of only minor repairs.

The developer, Mark Handel/MWH Development, has declared himself a 'willing seller'. This is a truly unusual turn of events in a land use battle of this type. This represents a significant opportunity, which means if the funding can be found, the golf course can be saved. Considering what is at stake, it would be a shame to let it slip away.


What are the consequences if funding is not found?

  • Project would require 500,000 cubic yards of soil to be graded and although the developer proposes to maintain 34 acres of the property as open space, the combination of cut slopes and fuel modification areas will result in permanent loss or degradation to much of that habitat.
  • It would result in the destruction of 97 mature native oak trees on the site.
  • The development would add an estimated 2,060 auto trips per day in and out of the project along La Tuna Canyon Road and Tujunga Canyon Boulevard, making it all the more difficult to travel the Tujunga Canyon Boulevard/Honolulu Avenue traffic corridor. Families living on Tujunga Canyon Boulevard already find it very difficult to navigate in and out of their driveways.
  • Moreover, the recently approved Canyon Hills project, a high density residential development less than a mile away, would exacerbate traffic, along with the proposed townhouse project to be built on the convalescent hospital property.
  • Loss of important watershed, all the more critical in these times of needed water conservation. The proposed development would cover the entire 28 acre footprint of the golf course.
  • It would also severely impact local schools, city services, such as police and fire departments, and utilities.
  • We would lose the only par 3 course in the area and further reduce available developed recreational resources in the foothill communities.


The Verdugo Hills Golf Course, Tujunga, California

Visit the Environmental Impact Report web page for updated information regarding the potential negative impacts that the community would face. The public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report [DEIR] is currently underway. It concludes July 20, 2009. Be sure to share your comments!






An Alternative...


One of the requirements for the DEIR is to present alternatives to the proposed project.

Visit "Envisioning a Regional Park" for some ideas how the Verdugo Hills Golf Course property could be expanded, offering additional forms of recreation as well as promoting ecologically sound land management and the conservation of natural resources.

Compare this community-friendly alternative with the proposed 229 unit housing development and other alternatives included in the DEIR.




Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council
VHGC Page

Sunland-Tujunga Alliance
VHGC Blog



"Locals take to the hills on day trip"

By Mary O'Keefe
Crescenta Valley Sun
April 10, 2009

Rich Toyon, 14th generation Tongva Indian, with son Zane
Tongva descendent Richard Toyon helps his son, Zane, prepare for the ceremony upon Tongva Peak in the Verdugo Mountains.

Excerpt:

"The future of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course was discussed at the final stop of the day as the tourists gazed upon the site from the hillside high above it.

Activist Marc Sturdivant provided information on how local residents could fight the proposed development of 229 condominium units on the golf course site. Toyon, an accomplished landscape architect, presented a rendering of an alternative plan for the acreage, a regional park that could be utilized by local residents."

View Full Article

Toyon and Stirdivant display plans for the VHGC as a regional park
Tour visitors listen to Toyon and Stirdivant discuss possibilities to expand the VHGC's recreational possibilities.



UPCOMING
EVENTS

Watch for 'Save the Golf Course' t-shirts, flyers, & bumper stickers at upcoming community events.


Don't want to wait?
Send an email for more information on how you can get your very own t-shirt for a donation of $5.00 or more. Regular vinyl bumper stickers are free.