Politics & Government

City Council Cannot Dissolve South Pasadena Design Advisory Group, Members Say

South Pasadena Design Advisory Group members say they play a vital role in providing Caltrans and Federal Highway Administration with community input.

On Wednesday, December 15, 2010, the voted 3-2 on Agenda Item 18 to dissolve the South Pasadena Design Advisory Group (SPDAG) and transfer its responsibilities to a newly-constituted Freeway and Transportation Commission. This vote was null and void, and thus has no effect upon the organization, structure and functioning of the SPDAG.

During the council meeting, Council member and SPDAG member Richard Schneider informed Mayor Mike Ten of the council’s lack of authority and jurisdiction over the SPDAG and noted that the agenda item should be withdrawn since it was outside the purview of the Council, but Mayor Ten proceeded with a vote anyway.  The Council voted 3 in favor (Putnam, Sifuentes, Ten and 2 against (Cacciotti, Schneider). 

Caltrans established the Design Advisory Groups in the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, and El Sereno to "consider the specific community mitigation needs of their community" at the direction of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as a condition of the FHWA 1998 Record of Decision State Route 710 Freeway (ROD).  FHWA specified that members "will include local officials, neighborhood representations, preservationists, and other interests."

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Since the City Council has no authority or jurisdiction over Caltrans and/or the FHWA, they have no authority or jurisdiction over the SPDAG and thus cannot dissolve the SPDAG and transfer its responsibilities to a city commission, so the agenda item was improper and out of order.

Therefore, the vote was null and void since it is outside the purview of the City Council and conflicts with the authority of state and federal government entities.  Thus, the SPDAG should continue to operate in the future as it always has in the past, as a community input entity to Caltrans and the FHWA with the same members, organization, structure, and functioning.

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In his 1999 order regarding the city's lawsuit granting a preliminary injunction, Judge Pregerson referenced the fact that the ROD included a promise to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) addressing changed conditions resulting, in part, from DAG activities.  He also indicated that the commitment in the ROD to prepare an SEIS was binding on the defendants (FHWA & Caltrans).

That was one of the reasons the FHWA informed Caltrans in December 2003, that the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) approved in the ROD must be supplemented before the project can proceed and that a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), followed by a new Record of Decision, is required.

The SPDAG still has a vital role providing Caltrans and FHWA with community input regarding the interim improvement projects and on any future SEIS process.  In addition, the SPDAG is responsible for project changes and seeing the projects to completion.

Our group had a meeting last Monday and we will continue to meet. Particularly with the in progress, it's important to have continuity and input from our group, which has been in existence since 1998.

We ask the City Council and City Attorney to re-examine the responsibilities of the SPDAG instead of transferring our duties to a city commission, so that we continue our important work serving the people of South Pasadena as we have for over a decade.

Respectfully the South Pasadena DAG members,

Robert Joe
Joanne Nuckols
John Vandercook
Mayor Pro Tem Michael Cacciotti
City Council member Richard Schneider, M.D.


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