Westside Project Area Committee

                                1724 Santa Fe Avenue, Suite 204 * Long Beach, CA.  90813

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Sramek/Planning Commission Chairman

Planning and Building

333 West Ocean Blvd., 7th Floor

Long Beach, CA 90802

 

March 1, 2006

 

Dear Commissioner Sramek,

 

It has come to the attention of the Westside Project Area Committee (WPAC) that the IURD homeless shelter at 1368 Oregon is seeking the modification of a previously approved permit, altering conditions set forth in that permit regarding parking, use of outdoor common area, and hours designated for client pick-up.  This neighborhood remembers all too well the Commission’s strenuous efforts to set those conditions in place, and it is the position of the WPAC that the permit should not be changed in any way.  Contracts should be honored.  The IURD has already caused the Commission, Council, City Attorney, and community enough time and concern.

 

The other condition that the IURD is seeking to alter is the transferability of an Administrative Use Permit.  Though the conditions outlined above are serious, this modification would create a much bigger and more potentially ruinous issue for the Westside as well as the City to contend with.  Allowing the permit to be transferred to a third party, ostensibly to create more local input.  But we believe it would only add another layer of bureaucracy to an already convoluted process.  It would create even more distance between what goes on at the facility and surrounding area and those responsible for those goings-on.  The WPAC is absolutely against this condition modification.  Let those responsible be held accountable.

 

Thank you for your consideration on this issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Dan Berns/Chair, Westside Project Area Committee

 

 

Jane Kelleher/Vice-chair, Westside Project Area Committee

 

cc: Commissioners Gentile, Greenberg, Jenkins, Rouse, Stuhlbarg, and Winn