Mount Saint Mary's Wellness Pavilion Approved by City Planning Commission

The City Planning Commission approved Mt. St. Mary‘s Wellness Pavilion Project as presented in the Staff Recommendation Report at the October 21, 2021 hearing. A determination report will be issued in a few weeks by the Commissioners to reflect this approval as well as minor technical changes made at the hearing. BHA submitted comments on the Staff Report prior to the hearing and provided testimony at the hearing (you can read our letter and listen to all of the testimony).

BHA believes the findings cannot be made to support approval of the Project. However, our letter to the Commission stated that if, nevertheless, the commissioners were to approve the project, we requested the following:

• Enrollment Cap of 1,072
• No summer camp program or any other programming in the summer months
• Wellness Pavilion programming for students, faculty and staff ONLY
• No additional programming of Wellness Pavilion for outside guests
• No weekend use of the campus for non-students
• Limits on the size and number of special events
• Reduction in daily vehicle trips from 2018 levels-- NOT the higher 2016 levels
• PM peak hours defined as 3pm to 7pm
• No filming permitted on campus
• Vehicle Trip Caps that apply to all vehicles arriving to campus between 3:00pm and 7:00pm
• Annual monitoring by a third party of compliance with trip caps (through car counts, logs from security regarding pedestrian access) as well as annual reports from an electronic parking reservation system that shows compliance with use and access of allowed vehicles.
• Required Plan Approval one year after the Certificate of Occupancy to verify monitoring, enforcement and compliance with all mitigation measures with a report submitted to the Brentwood Homeowners Association.
• Penalties for noncompliance with restrictions and conditions

BHA will be appealing this decision once the determination letter is issued. The next step, after this appeal, will be for City Council‘s Planning Land Use and Management Committee (PLUM) to review the project. Please check back here for next steps and a timeline.

The Fight to Save Single-Family Home Neighborhoods Continues.

Over the last several months, BHA as been active in fighting two bills in Sacramento which would force California cities to allow multi-unit residences in single-family home neighborhoods. Unfortunately, those bills, SB 9 and SB 10, which provide NO affordable housing, have passed and been signed into law.

That means you can expect developers throughout the state to purchase homes in R1 neighborhoods, demolish them, and build multi-unit housing.

A group called Our Neighborhood Voices has formed to collect signatures for a statewide ballot initiative that would overturn SB9 and 10 by restoring local control of important zoning decisions back to local communities.

Our Neighborhood Voices is currently collecting signatures to qualify this initiative for the California ballot. If you’re interested in signing, or in helping, please visit their website to find out more. https://ourneighborhoodvoices.com/

Fire Safety Tips

Protect yourself and your family from the ever-present danger in our hillside community. Learn more about what you can do with these safety tips compiled by BHA or watch our 2020 Fire Safety Town Hall. For additional resources, please visit https://www.lafd.org/wildfire.