A Message From Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commissioner Paul Tretault.

Friends:

As you know, I have served on the RPV Planning Commission for nearly seven years. I am a big supporter of local government, local control and our democratic process of voting. However, it took me some time before I appreciated the complexity of land use issues, individual property rights and community planning. A project as ambitious as the one requested by Marymount College, as presented to the city and now to the public through Measure P, is not something that is best offered to the public for a vote. This project took years for the school to develop on paper and its varied impacts on the community are complex. It cannot be adequately described in 15 second TV spots or colorful mailers.

The school presented its plans to both the Planning Commission and City Council. It already has approval for nearly everything that it wants from the city except the dormitories. Measure P is all about the school wanting dorms on campus. It is as simple as that. EVERYONE agrees that they should upgrade the administration, student union, academic facilities, and library. The sports facilities were approved even though there was community opposition based upon its placement near PV Drive East , lighting and parking.

Marymount wants dorms on campus and it is not accepting the rejection of a requested land use change that would permit high-density housing in a neighborhood that is exclusively zoned as single-family residential on lots of at least ¼ acre. After an Environmental Impact Report and traffic studies it was determined that having 255 permanent residents on campus would be disruptive to the neighborhood. The school is not planning on having enough parking on campus for all of its residents. Dr. Brophy (school president) and the administration have said that it would limit the number of parking permits for residents to keep the number of cars down, but that will only mean that those who live on campus but were not fortunate enough to get a parking permit will sneak their cars up to school and park around the corner on residential streets. There are no amenities within walking or biking distance from the school that will satisfy a college student’s needs for entertainment and socializing. That means the residents will be driving to and from the school well into the evenings, and parking on adjacent streets. The school says there will be a “quiet time” and curfew after 10 pm, but we know how that works, right? I went to Pepperdine University in Malibu and lived on campus. They had similar rules. You could not hear crickets chirping from the noise of the students up until about midnight.

The city of RPV did what it had to do. It acted to protect the adjacent neighbors from a significant loss of quality of life from this planned development. Putting students in dorms on campus is not a land use right that Marymount currently has and it is not something that the homeowners in Del Prado and Mediterrania (the two adjacent neighborhoods) should be expected to endure. Marymount wants a CHANGE in land use rights. Its application for dormitories was rejected (on a vote that I called for) and now the school has spent well over a million dollars in a deceptive and factually untrue campaign to circumvent our local government to fool enough people who will not be impacted by the proposal to vote for it.

The Planning Commission acted to protect that neighborhood, just as we would to protect YOUR neighborhood. It is not right or fair for Marymount to use the California initiative process to sidestep local controls and protections for its own purposes. The school is not a good neighbor and I am urging everyone to vote NO on Measure P.

Paul Tetreault