Ed. note: Jamie Bissner is vice-chairman of the Altadena Town Council, but told us he wants to emphasize that this does not represent the council’s point of view -- it is entirely his own opinion.
by Jamie Bissner
On August 28 the Altadena Town Council (ATC) met with Mike Antonovich’s Senior Deputy Sussy Nemer and Planning Deputy Edel Vizcarra to discuss the final draft of the Altadena Visioning Report. All of the attendees were provided a copy and all took the opportunity to question Nemer and Vizcarra. We have all been cogitating this tome for over a month.
We left the meeting with a better understanding of the Visioning and the process related to revising our community standards. We also knew it was necessary to fill the two vacancies on the town Council before tackling this formidable task which, when completed, may dictate our guidelines and directions for the next 15 plus years.
With the two seats filled at our September meeting we will move forward at the October gabfest to establish a Subcommittee and will be making applications available to the community. Some in town have already submitted qualifications. Applications will be due shortly after the October ATC roll-out so that the Executive Committee can consider them and present all applications to the full Council in November at which time the selections will be made. The Subcommittee format will be established by the full Council next Tuesday also.
My personal feeling is that a lean membership mostly comprised of Altadena’s talented professionals with backgrounds and experience related to the complex matters will serve us best and condense the matters that must be addressed.
I would like to see the members ratify a plan and return to ATC in May of 2013 for ratification by the entire Council in June. Following that the County will vet our ideas and suggestions; a process that will take over 18 months. With these two years I’ve illustrated for refinement and ratification as well as our need for County assistance in the endeavor once it is adopted, we will then have only two more years of reliable cooperation from our Fifth District Supervisor. Mike Antonovich will be termed out four years from the start of our subcommittee and we have no way of knowing what assistance, if any, we will receive from his successor. Mike and his people have contributed greatly to our town for more than 30 years.
A brief history on the advancement of Altadena community standards:
- While there was a plan adopted in 1969 for Altadena by the County it reflected very little from the community and accomplished next to nothing beyond some boilerplate countywide standards. In 1986 a fully revised Altadena Community Plan was approved by the Board of Supervisors which links here: http://altadenatowncouncil.org/documents/Altadena_Community_Plan.pdf . This Plan was the progeny of a group of involved townsfolk which labored for us as The Altadena Betterment Committee (ABC). The ABC was part of the Altadena Town Council (ATC) as a subcommittee and soon grew in prominence and importance to the point of becoming a freestanding organization as Altadena Heritage which links here: http://altadenaheritage.com/ Heritage has continued to address and advance our concerns with the adoption of the Hillside Ordinance in 2009 among many other achievements.
- Another ATC subcommittee which addressed standards was the Lake Avenue Business Standards working group which was successful in writing design standards for the Lake Avenue Specific Plan adopted by the County about 1996.
With the completion of our visioning it is again time for the ATC to take leadership in finalizing the results and ushering its ratification by the County. ATC intends on engaging those community groups who so capably began this process more than 26 years ago. Our subcommittee must include a member of Heritage, ATC and the Altadena Chamber of Commerce. We also must have “at large” community representatives and local professionals in a field familiar with this type of endeavor such as a realtor, architect, planner or other such occupation. One or more of the members may very well be the embodiment of several qualifications as we have many versatile talented professionals here.
Following their advisements we must make the draft available to everyone and hold one or more community meetings for valued input. It is our goal to dramatically improve Altadena’s business climate, eliminate as much as possible this code bombing we suffer from for both residents and businesses while maintaining our cherished rural environment and Bohemian approach to establishment mores.
