Blair Hills Association Meeting
November 17, 2015

Blair Hills past President Jon Melvin started the meeting at 7:05pm, he introduced our first guest speaker

Dan Hernandez, PRCS Director

Discussion on Blair Hills Park 

• The Parks Department is aware of the lack of turf in Blair Hills park
• There is a ban on all adult sports programs using the park as well as youth organized AYSO practices
• Due to the drought there will be no immediate changes to the parks turf
• The Park's Dept plans on taking advantage of the rain of El Niño season, once there is rain they will rope off and re-seed the area, this process is expected to take 10-12 weeks
• Mr. Hernandez assured everyone that Blair Hills park is a top priority
• The current irrigation system needs to be redone to be smarter and more effective, they will be submitting a capital improvement project
• Portable generator lights are not allowed in the park
• Annie will be contacting city council to approve a fee waiver for the Blair Hills annual picnic
• For large group events, residents have to reserve through the Parks Department
• Resident Antoinette brought up a potential Summer drop in program, Mr. Hernandez recommended residents to submit a formal request in a letter as the Parks Department would have to ask for additional funding for a city employee, an employee is needed instead of volunteers due to the liability of working with children

Sherry Jordan, Culver City Project Manager Sherry.jordan@culvercity.org

Discussion on Environmental Impact Report for Inglewood Oil Field drilling in Culver City

• The City and its consultants have prepared draft regulations for the Culver City portion of the Oil Field, there are 1,000 acres of oil fields, 80 acres are within Culver City
• Sherry provided a brief background of the Inglewood Oil Field (from the website): Following the actions of the Board of Supervisors, Culver City and other parties, including community organizations, joined together in a lawsuit against the County and PXP challenging the adequacy of the EIR and its mitigation measures. In July of 2011 a settlement of the litigation was reached, which supplements the CSD and provides for enhanced regulations to protect the public health and safety and the environment of the communities surrounding the Oil Field.
• The initial study investigated over drilling and requested an environmental review
• The city has released a notice of preparation for the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that will analyze regulations in the county portion
• The plan will restrict the drilling to where it is now, it will draw a line around that area, it will cap a maximum of 30 new wells up to 2031, there is to be no more than 1 drill rig on the field at a time, and will combine with state regulations
• There will be a 400 foot buffer away from homes for any new wells 
• There will be 2 community meetings in January and February to discuss the release of the Draft EIR 
• They hope to finalize and adopt the ordinance by the end of March
• Karly Katona reported that no hydraulic fracking is happening in the county portion of the fields
• If you are experiences seismic activity, call Timothy Stapleton with the Department of Regional Planning at 213-974-6453
• For more information including a tentative project timeline please visit culvercity.org and search Inglewood or click HERE

Karly Katona, Senior Deputy for Environmental Sustainability, County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas Office

Update on Stoneview Nature Center Construction 

• Construction on the hill will begin first, there will be an additional fire hydrant installed as well as a new irrigation system
• Construction work hours will be restricted from 8:00am - 5:00pm 
• Hugo Maldonado from the Parks Department and Kim Bosell, Natural Areas Administrator discussed the new parks programs: health and well being; educational; gardening and Eco system; school field trips; self guided tours; and a docent program that they are looking for volunteers for
• Free wi-fi will be provided with park hours, there was discussion of keeping wi-fi active 24/7
• There will be Special Events hosted at the park: new voting place; Blair Hills Association community meetings; special events are limited to 12 per year and will use the spillover parking lot to accommodate extra people
• The Park to Playa trail will connect this park to the other parks, there is a scheduled Community meeting December 10th outlining the Park to Playa proposal
• Dogs will be allowed
• Fruit trees will be planted and used for recreational cooking classes 
• The park will create new jobs, the Center is required to staff at least 30% from the local community, for staffing jobs they will be providing neighborhood fliers
• For more information please view the slideshow on the Blair Hills Website 

Announcements

• Santa Sleigh and Tree lighting will begin on December 3rd in downtown LA
• Last holiday season Blair Hills suffered several break in problems, reminder to be aware of cars on the street
• A truck involved in fatal hit and run was found on Lenawee Avenue 
• Reminder there will be no meeting in December
• The next meeting will be the 3rd Tuesday in January at a location TBD due to Kenneth Hahn center being closed for construction 
• Cheri is still working on welcome packets, she requested a volunteer with computer experience to help

Meeting was adjourned by co-president Annie Wilson at 8:57

Minutes submitted by Secretary, Victoria Flame

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