I am a 15-year-old high school student who has lived in the Santa Monica Mountains her entire life. I am home schooled by my mother and was able to attend the April 28 Planning Commission hearing in Los Angeles, and read the following:
I live in the Santa Monica Mountains and I speak for my family and as a partner in a family partnership that owns 17 parcels of land in the Santa Monica Mountains. Please let this statement serve as my and my family’s adamant opposition to the proposed Ridgeline Grading Ordinance. My father, mother and family members are farmers. We grow avocados and grapes and have no desire to ever subdivide our land or turn it into tract homes and we find that Zev Yaroslavsky’s comment that we are developers and we oppose this ordinance because we want to subdivide our land offensive and resent his misinformation campaign. We have done nothing but try to preserve our land and protect it and will continue to do.
If you want to stop tract home development in the Santa Monica Mountains, then do so, but do not penalize a landowner who wants to build a single-family home on a 20-acre parcel that is Zoned A-1. We have lived, worked and raised our family in the Santa Monica Mountains for the past 25 years and every year we see more and more government restrictions. But this proposed ordinance is the worst we have ever seen. The proposed ordinance is inconsistent with the North Area Plan. The Proposed Grading Ordinance is excessive. The Proposed Ridgeline Ordinance is excessive. Please know that my entire family is adamantly opposed to this proposed ordinance.
Ashley Semler and Semler Family