Revisions to Draft County LCP Are Indicators of Document’s Direction

• Changes in the Works for Vineyards and Horse Facilities

BY BILL KOENEKER

The comments and proposed changes to Los Angeles County’s draft Local Coastal Program cover a wide array of topics including agricultural and equestrian uses.

Some of the public comments deal with how the LCP rules would treat vineyards in the hills above Malibu and the care and boarding of horses. Other comments include trails and building on ridgelines.

The county’s LCP will apply to the unincorporated areas of Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains. The county’s regional planning commission is expected to consider the draft document at a hearing on January 24. The City of Malibu has its own LCP.

After public comments about how the environment should be protected from vineyard pesticide runoff, the staff indicated it revised rules so that runoff from agricultural areas and animal containment facilities must be retained onsite.

There was also some discussion about the legality of placing limitations on vineyards and whether that violates the policies of the Coastal Act. The staff maintains there is a balance in the draft document between supporting and protecting agricultural resources while at the same time protecting water quality and coastal resources.

Additionally, there were comments about the advisability of utilizing vineyards as buffers from wildland fires. County planners maintain that while grape vines may be less flammable than chaparral—it is believed they are used, in part, by some property owners as a buffer from wildfires—they can also impact natural resources.

“They can actually compromise water quality because of irrigation requirements, the pesticides that are regularly used on them and the fact that competing vegetation that would otherwise provide an erosion protection function is typically removed from underneath grape vines,” a planner responded.

Consequently, there are other limits on vineyards. They are prohibited in Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas and restricted in the county’s Sensitive Environmental Resource Areas.

“Vineyards are only allowed beyond fuel modification zones A, B, C with a major coastal development permit, which will impose conditions to minimize impacts to resources,” the staff report added.

Another widely discussed topic of consideration deals with keeping horses in the unincorporated areas of the Santa Monica Mountains. The staff response is the proposed LCP does not change the current limit of eight horses per acre.

The proposed LCP does not include structures in the calculation of area available for equestrian utilization.

The staff recommendation is to delete the provision requiring that acreage used to determine the number of horses allowed on a parcel of land be calculated using “net” acreage.

An administrative permit will be required for persons keeping up to 24 horses on their property in the R-C zone and a major coastal permit will be required for individuals wanting to keep more than 24 horses in the R-C-zone.

The staff agreed that the proposed limit of a four-foot high fence for horses is inadequate and “after further consideration” agreed that six-foot heights should be permitted.

The staff also agreed with public comments about the potential impacts of dust pollution from large animal containment. They concurred that it is not a serious problem and eliminated the requirement of a holding pond.

There was also further discussion about what constituted an ESHA. One big difference in ESHA designations pointed out by county planners that was mandated by the Coastal Commission in the city’s LCP is how coastal sage scrub is considered.

“Coastal sage scrub is not considered as sensitive as other plant communities in the Santa Monica Mountains, nor is it specifically described in the LCP as sensitive habitat. The LCP addresses the protection of CSS in several ways.

“The CSS community will appear on the biological inventory that must be submitted with each development proposal for review by the staff biologist and it will be subject to further biological review if necessary once each proposal is reviewed,” a staff comment suggests.

Public comments will still be accepted during the hearing, as well as during the remainder of the review period. Comments on the draft Los Angeles County Local Coastal Plan for the unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains can also be emailed to coastal@planning.lacounty.gov or sent by regular mail to the Department of Regional Planning, Community Studies II Section, 320 W. Temple Street, 13th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012-3223.