First I want to offer a type of glossary to use throughout the post.
The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project will be called "The Project" in this post.
It was recently passed by the members of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council during two sessions where votes were taken on all the elements of The Project provided to the Council by the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission for certifications and final approval.
Marymount College has been supporting The Marymount Plan, which I will refer to it as "The Plan".
The Plan is a proposed ballot initiative that has been created by Dr. Susan Soldoff, a member of the Board of Trustees of Marymount College.
Currently the Rancho Palos Verdes City Clerk is attempting to certify the signatures on petitions gathered to place the question before the City Council dealing with the potential for registered voters in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes the chance to vote for or against Marymount's plans.
If the City Clerk certifies that the proposed ballot initiative has received at least 15% of the signatures of valid Rancho Palos Verdes voters, the City Council has two options it must vote on before June 9, 2010 to secure a spot on the November 2 General Election or approve The Plan in its entirety as Marymount has created it.
If the proposed initiative is found to have enough valid signatures, the City Council members must do one of only two things is can legally do:
The Council can have a majority vote accepting all the exact provisions set out in The Marymount Plan and create the ordinances allowing Marymount to build its expansion according to Marymount's wishes, or
The Council can vote to call for a "Special Election" held on November 2 or another date within a certain time frame to call voters to vote yes or no to the ballot measure once it is written and approved for voting by registered voters.
The similarities between The Project and The Plan make up well over 90% of the two documents being identical.
There is little difference between both The Project and The Plan except where noted below.
Both have just about the identical construction phases and plans for the expansion of the Marymount Campus with the greatest construction difference being on campus student housing.
The on campus parking is basically identical in the number of spaces and the placement of those spaces.
The Library, Administration Building, Student Union, and classroom plans are identical in both documents.
As far as the gym goes, the size, shape and programs for the gym is identical.
Both The Project and The Plan illustrate a large field of regulation size for soccer being constructed on the west side of the campus.
The differences between The Project and The Plan can be described by many as just being about one thing and one thing only: On campus student residence halls.
There are other differences not advertised by Marymount in its quest to find volunteers to sign the petitions and support The Plan.
One difference is that Marymount accepted a height reduction for the roof of the gym in The Project but there is no agreement or stipulation that the lowering of the roof height must be in The Plan.
The placement of the large field has a 60 foot difference between The Project and The Plan with
The Plan having the field almost directly next to the sweeping curve along Palos Verdes Drive East.
While The Plan now may include the heightening of the retractable netting from 20 feet to 30 feet, The Project is approved for the 30 foot height.
The Plan may add a heightening of the fencing around the tennis courts from 10 feet to 20 feet whereas The Project stipulates that there be two tennis courts between the large field and Palos Verdes Drive East and the fencing will not only be raised from 10 feet to 20 feet, a 20 foot height fence will be place along the entire sideline of the large field.
The Project now calls for a 1000, concrete center median barrier be placed between the opposing lanes of Palos Verdes Drive East as it makes the long curve around portions of the campus.
The Plan does not include any mention of a center median barrier or the lowering from four lanes to two, the number of lanes around that curve from the campus' entrance to closer to Ganado.
Even though the battle for or against the ballot measure and The Marymount Plan centers solely around on campus residence halls, the means that Marymount would use to acquire approval to build the dorms is the biggest difference between The Project and The Plan.
The Project has already been provided all the approvals Marymount requested after they removed dorms from consideration.
Resolutions and ordinances will be created and the City Council will enact those measures to allow Marymount to begin The project's physical phases, probably by this summer at the earliest.
With The Plan, voters who would vote on the ballot measure will actually be the ones to approve or disapprove at least one ordinance specific to Marymount College and its "Specific Plan" which is the instrument Marymount will use to authorize the construction of everything related to both The Project and The Plan, including dorms, but not including mitigation approved of by the City Council relating to the large field, the placement of a concrete center line median barrier.
If the majority of voters for yes on the ballot measure they are also approving a new section 17.30.100.050 to the RPV municipal code.
That new section of the municipal code will allow Marymount to build per The Plan without oversight and without "condition, delay, or review".
Essentially, Marymount would be provided with all the tools to go forward with what is in The Plan without having to seek or find approvals dealing with conditions and that must be done without delay by the city of Rancho Palos Verdes and there would be no review of The Plan or further changes to The Plan or other construction themes Marymount wants to do.
It also means that the Planning Commission, City Staff, and the City Council will no longer have jurisdiction and/or review with anything on Marymount's campus.
Marymount will be allowed practically free reign over what it wants, when it wants it, without having to interact much with city government.
There are many people in Rancho Palos Verdes who are frightened that The Donald, York Properties, Terranea, or some other large business might attempt to use the ballot box to find approval for large projects when defeat the character of Rancho Palos Verdes and its creation because the increasing addition of population density in the city.
I will offer more opinion and facts in my next post.
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