The last chapter of the saga of a development of 300 acres in the Verdugo mountains revolves around surveillance cameras and native bumblebees. The promoter pursues demonstrators for intrusion on property to try to collect evidence for which the land should be preserved.
The developer based in Nevada, Whitebird Inc., has grandiose visions for the luxury complex known as Canyon Hills. The project would transform the accident hill over the Sunland-Tujunga district, which was largely spared from development, into a Tony community with 221 houses.
The development was approved by the Los Angeles Municipal Council in 2005 with a 20 -year completion window taking place until October 2026.
Several groups protested the project over the two decades that followed. Worried people This would bring overcrowding and traffic to the rural community. Assertive environmentalists The houses would be dangerous in the mountains subject to fire.
Whitebird therefore has a range in the range, bearing the imprint of 900 acres to 300 and giving the remaining 600 acres to be preserved as an open space. But activists argue that 300 acres of development are still too much.
After having reserved 600 acres of its development of 900 acres for the green space, the Whitebird canyon project now plans to cover 300 acres with 221 houses. But activists argue that it is still too much.
(Whitebird Inc.)
The last group to protest, No canyon hillsTrained in the spring of 2023 as a collection of artists, designers and amateur botanists who say that the native flora and fauna in the region are worth protected.
Now, with the closure of the 20 -year development agreement on the horizon, Whitebird is continuing.
The promoter brought an action against No Canyon Hills on December 10, accusing the members of the group of sneaking on the property and secretly install cameras and other surveillance equipment, disobedient to display “no intrusion” panels. He also accuses the group of boasting of alleged intrusions, of publishing evidence on social networks and corresponding to government representatives.
Consequently, Whitebird said that activists had damaged his reputation, disrupted his enjoyment of land and increased costs to comply with contractual obligations.
“The Canyon Hills site is a private property, not a public public space,” said Christopher Frost, a lawyer representing Whitebird. “Like all property owners in California, our customer has the exclusive right to use the land he has had for more than two decades and a privacy expectation on this land without disruption. The unauthorized and unauthorized surveillance taking that we describe in the trial takes place in violation of these rights. ”
The prosecution also said that protest efforts had delayed development. It could be fair.
In addition to public awareness campaigns, including a petition This has accumulated more than 177,000 signatures, No Canyon Hills has expressed its concerns to local government agencies.
The rare Davidson's Bush Mallow is only on the central coast of California and in the hills around Tujunga, including on land where the development of luxury housing is planned.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
On September 11, Doug Carstens, a lawyer who represented any canyon hill sent to the Los Angeles planning service a note describing his fears concerning the effect of development on local fauna, in particular two protected species: mountain lions and bourdons of the crotch. The complaint included several horrible images of a puma on the property.
Two days later, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) sent to Whitebird an opinion saying that his request for an accessory taking permit – a necessary step which allows the developer to build houses in an area that shelters protected species, such as Bumblebee de l'Eturge – was incomplete.
“No Hills Canyon has submitted photos to public agencies, then these public agencies have rightly become,” said Carsten. “You can't just start classifying the land without taking into account the fauna that has been documented on site.”
The original project Environmental impact reportWho was finalized in 2004, found no evidence of mountain lions or protected bees. But as the co-founder of Canyon Hills said, Emma Kemp, many cannot change in 20 years.
“Certain components of the original impact report, which was led 20 years ago, does not reflect the current state of the field,” said Kemp. “Our objective is to encourage city officials and state agencies to carry out a updated environmental examination.”
For the moment, the project is waiting for Whitebird to receive the accessory license linked to the bumblebees of the crotch. Once this is published, the company said it will resume development and request a permit for rating of the city.
Opponents of the development of canyon hills are concerned about how development will affect the native crotch bumblebees, a protected species.
(Krystle Hickman)
It's a race against time. The development agreement ends in less than two years, but Frost said that the company could develop lots by October 2026. We do not know in which phase the project must be on the deadline for the approval of the city to remain valid, but Jack Rubens, the lawyer for the use of Whitebird's land, disputed the chronology and declared that it expects that the land project begins for a long time.
Kemp is not so sure.
“Each month, they do not have the license, we get closer to the 2026 deadline, and it is partly because of the plea work we have done,” she said.
Frost said Whitebird is also open to the sale of the land to a buyer concerned with conservation – at the right price.
No Hills canyon was in discussion with Whitebird in the past year of a potential sale, according to Kemp, even fundraising on its website With the slogan, “Can we finance the mountain of a mountain? Absolutely.”
The fundraising objective is $ 12 million, but Frost said it was not far from the appropriate value of the field.
The Canyon Hills project would transform an damaged hill over the Sunland-Tujunga district into a Tony community with 221 houses.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
If an agreement was on the table, Kemp was surprised by the aggressiveness of the trial, given that, earlier this year, the two parties had discussed a potential conservation acquisition agreement alongside the public land trust, a non -profit organization which creates parks and public lands.
“Their dispute team has all these slogans On his website To be fighters and “aggressive shameless”, she said. “It seems a little hostile to a bunch of children who care about bumblebees.”
Carstens, who does not represent Hills of Canyon in the trial but frequently deals with problems of land use, said that the prosecution seems to be an attempt to intimidate the activists.
“Many developers work through these processes without continuing activists,” he said. “If the promoter wanted to negotiate the sale of property in good faith, file a complaint against an activist does not seem to be the best course.”
Carstens said the costume could turn against him. Instead of obtaining relief from white birds in the form of damage, this could arouse more interest and attention to the cause of the group.
Despite the trial, No Canyon Hills is still interested in buying and keeping the land, although logistics become a little more difficult now than they have to collect funds for a defense lawyer to represent them in court.
“In the end, we believe that land conservation is greater than not Hills of Canyon or Whitebird,” she said.
She said that the most enriching part of the mission was to see the young people happened to protect land and the landscape in which they live.
“Regardless of what's going on here, it always looks like something he is proud of,” she said. “At the other end, we could end up bankrupt.”
