LOS ANGELES —The fact that there is a plan for Mulholland Drive will come as a big surprise to most locals. Whose Plan? What’s the Plan? We sound like the Three Stooges. “The Plan”? – It’s actually a blueprint and guideline for what should and shouldn’t be happening on the land and in the hills along Mulholland. Still surprised? Shouldn’t be – “The Plan” is often ignored.
The beautiful vistas from Mulholland overlooking the city and the Valley were originally planned. A grass roots movement began in the 1970s to preserve the natural beauty of the 22-mile long Mulholland Corridor. It has only been since the 1987 that it’s been the duty of the city at the urging of locals to protect that original vision. The preservation has been formalized into the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, which requires all homeowners, developers and builders to check that their proposal doesn’t run afoul of the original Plan.
The City’s goal? Not to muck up the beauty with higgley piggly development. So they’ve enlisted locals to help with the formal City Planning process for any build within 500 feet of Mulholland. I’ll spare you the technicalities. If you’re interested you can read The Plan @cityplanning.lacity.org/complan/specplan/pdf/mulhol.pdf
In a nutshell: The Specific Plan encourages environmentally and aesthetically sensitive development in the Scenic Parkway and seeks to ensure that all projects”¦are compatible with the Scenic Parkwayenvironment. The Specific Plan provides regulations [for] design, landscaping and placement of private projects…to preserve, complement and enhance the views from Mulholland Drive, [and to] preserve the natural, hillside character of the entire Parkway. The ”¦intended character of Mulholland Drive [is] a low-density, low-volume, slow-speed roadway in a hillside parkway-type setting is preserved.
Exactly why we chose to live here.
I had a chance to sit down with the “Dude-in-Chief” Alan Kishbaugh. He’s actually the President of the Design Review Board – that’s government lingo for the citizen’s advisory board. He’s an experienced hand at grass roots politicking. He’s not a screaming mimi NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard] activist. He has a firm grip on the how and why city officials make decisions and skillfully maneuvers for his group through the high grass. While I was interviewing him, unlike other volunteer advocates, he was not self-aggrandizing. In fact, he adroitly turned me away from the storyline that could have been about him, and instead kept focusing on the goal of the Specific Plan and the work of the Advisory Board. Most recently he tackled the illuminated bus bench on the east side of Laurel Canyon near Mulholland. He’s been traveling to the adjacent Neighborhood Councils pointing out to them that advertising along Mulholland is a no-no. Can you image Mulholland with billboards and illuminated jumbo-trons? Is it a stupid hyperbole of an analogy? That would never happen! Yet there they are – a bus bench, a bus shelter, illumination and multiple movie posters. Is this just the start?
While we have Alan and our Specific Plan to thank for the bucolic setting we continue to enjoy, we also need to take up the challenge and police ourselves. Don’t be selfish and put up ”˜Whatever you want” in total disregard for the overall enjoyment of others. If you plan to build, expand or modify take a gander at the regulations before you get into the heavy lifting. Anything that costs over $400 or is other than a minor repair needs a permit. We tend not to be whistle blowers even when our neighbors are out of control. Don’t assume that silence is consent to your project.
