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AUTRY MUSEUM AVOIDS CITY LAND USE RULES
IN GRIFFITH PARK EXPANSION PROJECT,
SAYS LAWSUIT· City Council Ignored Fundamental Zoning and Environmental Laws to Help Autry
· City’s Action Allows Autry to Further Gut Historic Southwest Museum
· Community Groups File Suit to Enforce City Land Use Rules And State Environmental LawLOS ANGELES, August 3, 2011 -- An environmental lawsuit was filed on July 26, 2011 against the City of Los Angeles over a construction project at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park by the Highland Park Heritage Trust and the Mount Washington Homeowners Alliance. The proposed project was recently approved by the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners.
The Autry’s proposed project in Griffith Park directly violates that land use law and the environmental laws of the State of California that require proper public disclosure and consideration of negative impacts before project approval. According to the lawsuit, that is just one of many potential negative environmental impacts the Los Angeles City failed to study in hastily approving the Autry’s project.
On appeal of the approvals, the City Council also ignored a protective provision for the historic Southwest Museum location which falls under the City’s zoning laws. The City’s General Plan, the most fundamental set of land use rules for any city, specifically prohibits Los Angeles city agencies from taking any action that will not maintain the Southwest Museum land use on Mount Washington.
Autry’s construction drawings submitted to the Recreation and Parks Department staff in May 2010 showed Autry’s total construction project will convert tens of thousands of square feet of non-public space (collections storage and back office space in the Autry Museum’s Griffith Park basement) into expanded new public use spaces (exhibition galleries, special event areas for rental income, new restrooms, etc.).
These proposed new public uses, intended to increase visitors, traffic and parking, should have resulted in the City conducting an environmental review, say community groups filing the lawsuit.
Instead, City Recreation and Parks officials were asked to allow a portion of the construction project to move forward. Autry claims the City had no discretion but to approve the project. Based upon Autry’s assertion that the City had no discretion, Autry claimed no environmental review was required. Recreation and Parks Department officials passively complied with Autry requests and improperly signed off on a form claiming the project was exempt from environmental review with no notice to the community.
The lawsuit alleges that Autry representations were false and misleading for the purpose of moving the historic Southwest Museum land use from Mount Washington to Autry’s own building. The suit claims the Autry will bury the Southwest Museum name – an action contrary to fiduciary promises Autry made in a 2003 merger agreement to always maintain the separate name and institution of the Southwest Museum.
“The Autry project represents an attack on the City’s most fundamental zoning protections of the City’s first museum – a piece of important Los Angeles history at risk of completely unnecessary destruction at the hands of the Autry,” says Brigid Joyce of Otten & Joyce. The firm filed the California Environmental Quality Act and Zoning Violation lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and Autry on behalf of the community groups.
Just two months ago, Joyce and her colleagues at another firm obtained a Los Angeles Superior Court order overturning similar outrageous City actions. That case involved the closed Lopez Canyon Landfill, which is protected under City law as passive open space. City officials evaded environmental review and granted themselves a variance from the open space protective zoning. The City then authorized a diesel truck driving school in the middle of the open space and surrounding residential communities.
Joyce says the situation involving the Autry is reminiscent of the Lopez Canyon Landfill debacle where the Los Angeles Superior Court flatly rejected all of the City’s excuses for ignoring its own zoning and environmental laws.
“Our review of the history of the case shows that when the Autry Museum was unable to get around the protective provision for the Southwest Museum in the zoning law in a 2009 effort to move the Southwest Museum’s land uses into Griffith Park, it adopted a stealth strategy,” Joyce continued. “Autry broke into pieces its proposal to expand the Southwest Museum land use in its Griffith Park building. Then Autry claimed the City had ‘no discretion’ but to approve the move, and no requirement to review environmental impacts. This is a classic real estate developer ploy to piecemeal a project to evade environmental review, and the City went along with a wink.”
The environmental lawsuit is expected to take about nine months to reach a hearing in the local Superior Court.
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Highland Park Heritage Trust (HPHT) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization working to preserve, educate, and advocate for the heritage and historic preservation of Los Angeles’ Arroyo Seco communities including Highland Park and Mt. Washington, located northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 1982, it is one of the most active historic preservation organizations in Los Angeles and has received numerous awards for its work from the California Preservation Foundation, Los Angeles Conservancy and the California Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation excellence. HPHT is a founding organizational member and the fiscal administrator for the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition.
Mount Washington Homeowners Alliance (MWHA) is a non-profit association of nearly 700 residents in the Mount Washington community near downtown Los Angeles dedicated to First Amendment advocacy and community organizing on land use, environmental, cultural, and similar community-based issues.
Lawsuit filed by Highland Park Heritage Trust and
Mt. Washington Homeowners Alliance- Download PDFDetailed Background Information - Download .doc file