City of Sierra Madre
Office of the City Clerk
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Sierra Madre, CA
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To: Public Comment
Subject: city council 5-14-24 / lavender and tup-hop non agenda item Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 1:40:23 PM
City Council, City Manger, & City Attorney...
i was out of area and could not attend the planning commission meeting on 4-18-24. I reviewed the city replay of such, and was informed by fellow neighbors who attended, that the commission seemed to be favorable to prohibiting commercial activity in R1 zones. Now, it is up to city council to review, re-fine and adapt changes to city ordinances to prevent such. For all of this, we the residents on and near Olive are most appreciative and hope full that the city can and will put an end to this gross violation/exploitation of the R1 zoning standards.
However, there are 2 areas of concern that i wish to bring to your attention at this time:
1st, I heard planning commissioner Simcock say that he could see a possible other "loopholes" in the tup/hop ordinances and/or proposed amendments... I would like to know what he saw; and i hope that city council & city attorney are aware of what future loopholes are out there for Lavender to abuse. 2nd, i am aware already of the next loophole they are using. That is the filming ordinance: They have held multiple non-permitted (5 or less attendees) that have gone on without any city code enforcement response .
They held a major wedding event on 4-27-24 that involved MTB (wedding event rental company) deliver and pickup rental items, a catering van that was parked in driveway of the mira monte short term rentals that Lavender owns and stages the events at, and a professional photographer. With such personnel and multiple wedding participants, there was high probability of more than "24" people. Once again, no monitoring or intervening by city code enforcement. Further, i found out later Lavender and their photographer had applied and were issued a still photography permit for activity between 4-9 pm with "24" attendees. I saw the photographer show up before 3 pm and the MTB truck show up closer to noon.
At another wedding event they held the following week, one of their attendees was flying a drone around the neighborhood of our houses until he was confronted by one of my neighbors.
We would like the city council to be aware of the weaknesses in the film ordinances now (rather than later) ... in order to prevent the next loophole from being exploited. I suggest the city modify such that there has to be a greater time before the event to allow for a procedure by which residents can appeal the issuing of film permits (similar to tup ordinance). There is a signature requirement for filming, that as the city says, the city has no plan to validate the signatures collected. I have seen the signature lists submitted to and posted on city web site for these events on olive and mira monte recently. In both cases, they failed to follow the standards and guidelines. But, the city has no plan to enforce their own codes.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and for your service to our community. Further more, i look forward to seeing the staff report and agenda for the meeting on the 28th.
Steve Rostker