In other action, council approves a settlement that would give more than 50 acres for parkland.
By Jonathan Friedman/Staff Writer
In response to accusations that the council’s selection of a campaign ethics consultant was a conflict of interest, it announced a new selection at Monday night’s meeting.
The council originally chose Robert Stern from the Center for Government Studies, where Malibu Bay Company attorney Dick Volpert’s daughter also works.
The council asked City Attorney Christi Hogin to negotiate a contract with Xandra Kayden, who was once the executive director of a commission that drafted a Code of Ethics for the city of Los Angeles.
The Surfside News revealed the loose connection between Stern and Volpert shortly after the council approved his hiring. That, and the fact that Councilmember Jeff Jennings and Stern knew each other at Stanford more than 30 years ago, with Jennings admitting he had spoken with Stern one time since then about a campaign ethics issue, sparked several letters to the editor. The councilmembers said Stern could no longer serve in the position because his hiring was questioned, which they said was unfortunate.
“This notion that people whose lives are tied up in the pursuit of ethics … would sell their reputations out because they went to school with Jeff Jennings 30 years ago or because somebody’s daughter worked for them is so ludicrous,” Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Barovsky said.
Kayden will be available to answer questions about campaign ethics and issues for candidates and residents. In addition, the council gave approval for the city to receive help from the Los Angeles League of Women Voters Campaign Watch Commission, which deals with campaign complaints, especially those involving advertising. That service will be provided to the city for free. Kayden’s contract will be for no more than $10,000.
57 acres to be donated for parkland
Also at the meeting, the City Council approved a settlement with the Rubens Family Trust. Rubens will donate 57 acres of its land to the National Park Service (NPS) as open space in exchange for receiving a new zoning classification for the remaining portion of the property. But Jefferson Wagner of the Latigo Canyon Preservation Association, a homeowners association in the area, said he would sue the city in response to the settlement.
The 125-acre property is zoned to allow one home per 20 acres (RR-20), and the trust wanted to change it to one home per five acres (RR-5). Rubens approached the City Council in 1999 with the request. It was rejected, and Rubens sued. The settlement was then later
reached. In 2002, the Planning Commission recommended the settlement be rejected. But the City Council said the deal was a good one since it would mean the donated land would never be built on. Also, they said they liked a part of the deal in which a portion of the land would be used to connect with a sophisticated trail system that is being created by the NPS.
Although the land designation will be changed, Rubens will still only be able to build six homes on the property, the same amount it would be able to build if it had just constructed on the property without seeking the change. This is because the city’s law regarding building on slopes would only allow one home per 9.75 acres.
Wagner said he did not care how many homes Rubens could build. Instead, he said he was concerned that other developers nearby would ask for the same designation, using Rubens as a reason why they should be able to get it.