Opinion
By Randy Hill
The state of CA has mandated a housing plan for our city to add 769 homes over the next 8 years. This is not optional. Ours is a small city. The housing plan submitted cost our city and staff time and money and was ultimately approved by the state.
ALUC is simply a referral committee, not an authority (least of all expert) on airport land usage. As an example, I am a member of the Los Al Traffic Commission. I can say there are many more qualified experts than myself on the subject of traffic.
The recommendation of ALUC not to approve the plan seems flawed. After all, ALUC refuses to accept the most current map outlining safety and sound impacted areas near the JFTB. They are using an outdated map that includes certain areas of the housing plan in sound impacted areas. Note, these are not safety impacted areas, simply noise. There are easy remediation techniques to reduce the impact of sound. If a person chooses to live in an area with noise, that is their option. Even so, we should not even be having this discussion since the most current map, created by actual experts and authorities from the JFTB, does not include the area in question in any sound or safety impacted area.
Furthermore, a letter to the city from ALUC states clearly that “ALUC may impose compliance requirements on the local agency…..the commission may require that the local agency submit all subsequent actions, regulations, and permits to the commission for review….”. Why would the city, or its residents, want ALUC involved with our decisions? Why would our city choose to relinquish local control? How would that benefit Los Al?
ALUC is routinely overruled by cities. Considering this is simply a noise issue, not safety, as some would have you believe, it seems reasonable that we would overrule ALUC as well. It is interesting that we already have some 2,500 homes in these areas as we speak. In fact, there are other areas in our city more impacted by noise from busy streets and freeways than the JFTB.
In addition, it seems clear ALUC has a considerable conflict of interest since some of its committee resides in College Park East, including their local city council member. Of course, she has an obligation to represent her community. They would prefer not to have additional housing there. I think most of us share that opinion. Unfortunately, the state does not share our concerns about single-family neighborhoods or quality of life. This is a decision that needs to be made in the interest of Los Alamitos residents, not outside interests.
We have a chance to build a part of our housing element plan in the least invasive area of our city. If we limit our buildable area to those not included in the old map, we have a very small window to put all 769 houses. The impact would be much more detrimental to our city and the quality of life for our residents.
Don’t get lost in the rhetoric of outside groups and do what serves our city best. Overrule ALUC for a better Los Al.
