The full board will consider the following letter at the special Meeting on Monday September 30th at 7 pm
The meeting will be held at the Pierce College Farm at the corner of Victory Boulevard and Desoto Avenue and will be at 7pm. The address is 20800 Victory Blvd. As you enter the market, someone will be there to tell you where to go.
September 29, 2013
Mr. Allen Elliott, Program Director
NASA MSFC AS01, Building 4494
Huntsville, AL 35812
RE: NASA Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Dear Mr. Elliott,
The Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council submits the following comments on the NASA Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
As an advisory body to the City of Los Angeles, the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council (WHWCNC) should have been notified of the potential impact of the truck traffic to our community as related to the cleanup of NASA’s portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
We would like the public comment period to be extended from October 1st for an additional 30 days for our committees to address the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). We are subject to the Brown Act, and therefore, we must work within the constraints of those guidelines. The Brown Act requires us to have open noticed meetings. Our committees will be required to send this action to the full Neighborhood Council Board for a vote.
We request that NASA develop a new DEIS to show all options as listed in your summary Table 2.4 – 1.
We need NASA to show all options – not just a cleanup to Background or a No Further Action. A compromise on the Administrative Order on Consent is necessary due to the impact of the truck traffic to our communities.
Primarily we are concerned about the truck traffic though our area, much of it in residential districts and near schools. Our committee of the WHWCNC was charged with reviewing this document on September 19th, 2013, and only then did the committee realize that 60 % of the truck traffic from NASA’s portion of the cleanup would go south through Woodland Hills. This information related to this route was not presented at the NASA DEIS Public Forums on August 27th, 2013 and August 28, 2013. At no previous meetings that we are aware of was the route for the trucks from Santa Susana Field Laboratory to go south on Topanga Canyon Boulevard through Woodland Hills. Therefore, the WHWCNC was not aware of the serious traffic impacts of your proposal.
NASA has projected 60 % of the trucks will go through West Hills, Canoga Park and Woodland Hills. However, in the NASA assessment of schools, NASA may not be aware that many of schools in the City of Los Angeles are Charter or Magnet Schools. NASA’s list of schools on Table 4.8-2 fails to list many Los Angeles Unified School District Schools sites which includes local schools, magnet schools, charter schools, and other private schools, as well preschools and day care centers.
Mr. Allen Elliott
September 29, 2013
Page 2
Furthermore, NASA has not considered the traffic that is currently generated in this area by the heavily attended Los Angeles Pierce College.
There are already impacted intersections on the proposed NASA route south which include Canoga Park High, the New Community Jewish High School in West Hills, Westfield Topanga Plaza, Westfield Promenade Mall, and the proposed Westfield Village project which will be sited on Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Victory and Erwin.
The NASA DEIS does not tell the Woodland Hills stakeholders the true impact of the cleanup of all of Santa Susana and how many additional trucks may go south on Topanga Canyon Boulevard from The Boeing Company and the Department of Energy sites. A full site Environmental Impact Report is necessary to weigh all of the impacts of the cleanup by all three Responsible Parties.
We are concerned that in Table 2.4- 2, the types of waste and their percentages are defined as to where they are probably being shipped to. We would like a description that explains how this waste is contained on the trucks, or are the trucks just covered with tarps? To further safeguard people along the route, it needs to be clarified in the DEIS how this waste will be contained and what clean-up measures will be taken to mitigate any potential toxic residue that may be dispersed from the truckload, its tires, or carriage in general.
Furthermore, your DEIS only references repairs to Woolsey Canyon Road. The entire route in every direction should be surveyed and ongoing maintenance should be paid for by the responsible parties.
In conclusion, as the DEIS is currently written, the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council strongly objects to the plan as it is written. The plan requires two years of daily and continuous heavy truck traffic through our communities. We also object to NASA’s proposal for twelve operating hours per day. The hours of trucks traffic needs to be limited to day time hours only.
Please re-do the DEIS and include the analysis of options that reduce heavy truck traffic through our neighborhood, infrastructure damage, and the potential disbursement of toxic waste and residue in our community.
Sincerely yours,
Woodland Hills Warner CenterNeighborhood Council
Scott Silverstein, Chair