Letters To Senator Runner
in response to his newsletter
article dated 12/18/08.
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Dear Senator Runner:
It is my suspicion that you have heard from many community members in Sunland Tujunga already.
As an activist in Sunland Tujunga for twenty five years, I know my friends and neighbors. They moved to Sunland
Tujunga, because they love it here. This is one of the last great places to live in Los Angeles.
We are a diverse, intelligent, caring and committed group of folks. We love our clean air, magnificent views, rural and
eclectic lifestyle - we are delighted to live in the foothills next to the Angeles National Forest surrounded by beauty,
nature and wildlife. That is why we have done the difficult work required to write two Specific Plans one to regulate
our commercial area and the other to preserve our view shed upwards.
The Foothill Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan which is a Los Angeles city ordinance clearly designates the Home
Depot construction on the Sunland K-Mart property both a project and a significant project requiring environmental
review.
By now my neighbors have told you about the antics we had to go through in order to get the city to do its job to
uphold our specific plan and have pointed out all of the details of our concerns about the hidden costs of the
construction, the traffic problems, the air quality threat, the three sides of the property being surrounded by
residential property, the short distance to the special needs elementary school, and the calculations by the
earthquake expert which declare the building hopelessly dangerous and unfit for occupancy.
I simply wish to bring those details to your attention once more and assure you this is not the flighty fancy of a few
ragged discontents. This is a community of united and informed stakeholders who insist our specific plan prevail in
its intention to bring neighborhood-friendly retail to the K-Mart property where local families shop with shopping carts
not a home-improvement warehouse visited by out-of-town contractors who shop with fork lifts.
If I can in any way be helpful to you in better understanding the issue, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Elaine Brown
President of the Commerce Owners and Business Restoration Association, Inc
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Senator Runner,
As a resident of the Senior Mobile Home Park that is next door to the proposed Home Depot in Sunland, I ask you to
review the true and actual facts concerning the Home Depot's intent and ultimate destruction of the school,
community and my home if they are allowed to proceed without following legal guidelines.
My back door is against the retaining wall where the majority of the activity proposed by Home Depot will transpire.
Many of the residents have lived peacefully in the mobile home park for 20+ years, it was the reason I selected the
property. The current traffic going west on Foothill is so busy, it takes 5-10 minutes to turn left out of the parkway. I
can only image how difficult it will be with a Home Depot and their 18-20 trucks daily.
Please don't let Home Depot degrade our quality of life in our Park and jeopardize our peaceful existence during the
remaining years we have left.
Thank you.
Deborah Brown
Resident, Monte Vista Estates
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Dear Senator Runner:
I have read your newsletter and maybe in another community your comments about the City of Los Angeles and
the Home Depot issue may be right but it is not in this community. The City of Los Angeles is doing what is right for
this community by not allowing Home Depot to skirt around the rules like they have tried to do many times. The Los
Angeles Planning Department has evaluated thousands of pages of information in this case, including varied and
opposite opinions from several experts. They have determined that Home Depot’s request for categorical exemptions
from environmental clearance is not appropriate.
We have numerous hardware stores in this community that meet our needs and a Home Depot only ten (10)
minutes away in Sylmar. It is not an inconvenience going to their store when needed but it is a large inconvenience
having to travel to Burbank, Northridge, Glendale, Santa Clarita or Pasadena to purchase our everyday household
and personal needs. This is what Kmart offered to us and it is what our Foothill Blvd. Corridor Specific Plan calls for
on this site. This is the only prime piece of land in Sunland that can provide us with this type of shopping. Besides
that Home Depot is not appropriate in the midst of residential homes, a senior mobile home park and under 500 feet
from the Apperson Street Elementary School. This is a complete disregard for the CEQA guidelines, written and put
into effect by Home Depot’s own legal defense team, Latham and Watkins, which prohibits this kind of use within 1000
feet of the property.
The City of Los Angeles will benefit more from our having a real retail store here. When we drive to outside
communities to do our shopping for household goods we eat at their restaurants, shop at Lowe’s store and other
businesses. We’re spending our money in other communities rather than in the City of Los Angeles and our
community.
Home Depot will bring 18-20 truck deliveries per day to our community from their suppliers, and we will have the
contractors picking up their heavy hardware supplies early every morning during school hours. We will have over-
sized trucks loaded with lumber, drywall, insulation, ladders, fencing, decking, concrete, cement, masonry, roofing,
gutters, siding, large appliances, water heaters, air conditioners, hazardous and toxic materials. This is a big
difference from a retail store that sells socks and underwear that this community needs so badly. Does this sound
like a pedestrian friendly shopping center?
Our environment and air quality will be impacted. We are between two mountain ranges where the foul air from
the diesel truck traffic that Home Depot will create will lay and affect everyone’s health. What Home Depot’s trucks
bring into this valley will stay here. This area has been a life saver to many asthmatics for many years. I have lived
in Sunland since 1958. We take our environment very seriously. We have been a community for people with
respiratory problems. In the 70s we had a home for asthmatic children called “Sunair”. I worked with these children
at Apperson and this area was a life saver for them.
We have one main artery, Foothill Boulevard, which we use coming and going in & out of our community. Right
now the boulevard is like a small freeway at certain times of the day. Our streets north and south of the boulevard
are narrow and badly in need of repair. Home Depot is an industrial warehouse business and will add to the damage
of the roads with their deliveries. Home Depot is not appropriate for our neighborhood. We were subjected to the
beeping of the forklifts and trucks everyday when Home Depot was doing improvements. Their store hours will be 5:
30 AM to 11:00 PM. We will have to listen to their noise & after 11:00 when they do their stocking activities. This
neighborhood will have to listen to this twenty-four hours a day if Home Depot opens. Calling Home Depot a retail
store doesn’t make it fit in. Our Apperson elementary and other schools in this community, environment, traffic, and
noise should be top priority. These are extremely important issues to look at. Home Depot needs to do a full
unbiased EIR with all impacts fully mitigated! This will not be a safe or healthy situation for this community.
We certainly do not want Home Depot’s Marina Del Rey fiasco to happen in our neighborhood. The store was cited
for a failure to properly store and transport hazardous sludge. Investigators discovered that chemicals were mixed
together into an explosive brew. The investigation concluded that Home Depot stores across California improperly
stored their hazardous waste while awaiting off-site disposal. Haulers improperly stored and labeled waste and did
not keep good records of materials about to be transported. Do we need something like this to happen here being
that the property abuts the Haines Canyon Flood Control Channel which would be endangered by improperly stored
hazardous wastes? These types of problems would affect the residential home owners and school children around
this property.
The proposed use of the former Kmart structure is not simply the reuse of an existing building. It has been
extensively remodeled, and the Zoning Administrator and the Los Angeles City Council have determined the
construction work qualifies as a Project per our Specific Plan and is subject to CEQA regulations and environmental
review.
Senator Runner, please come to visit our community and speak with our hard working STNC and Sunland/Tujunga
Alliance representatives about this issue. Sunland/Tujunga deserves development that will improve the quality of life
of our residents.
Thank you for taking the time to hear my concerns.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Norma White
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Dear Senator Runner,
As a homeowner in Sunland who lives less than five blocks from the old Kmart property, I was surprised and
saddened by the comments in your December 18 newsletter. The vast majority of the residents of Sunland-Tujunga
are very glad that Los Angeles city government has finally taken the needs of our local community into account.
Home Depot has proposed a store: 1) in a residential area; 2) less than 500 feet from an elementary school; 3) that
goes against goes against the Foothill Blvd. Corridor Specific Plan and 4) in an area that already has many hardware
stores, but no general merchandise store, like the Kmart we used to have. From my house I can pass many hardware
stores, including other Home Depots, before I reach the first general merchandise store (like Target or Kmart). We
very much need development, but what we need is not another Home Depot.
Senator, we are very grateful for the support of the Los Angeles City Council and city government. We would very
much also like your support. I would invite you to organize a public meeting in our local community so that you can
meet with community leaders and clearly ascertain the real needs of our community.
Sincerely,
Juan Martínez
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Dear Senator Runner:
I have lived in Tujunga for fifty-five years in a house my grandfather built for my parents. He was an independent
contractor, building “spec” houses and doing remodels from Pasadena to Sunland. All of his construction was
neighborhood appropriate and he followed all the rules, from submitting proposals, through plan checking and all the
required inspections.
He did it the right way; he was a good man, a good neighbor, followed the rules and did not litigate if things
did not go his way.
On the other hand, Home Depot has tried to have their way through influence, bullying, name calling and
circumventing the rules. There is no reason to believe Home Depot will be a good neighbor.
Senator, I strongly encourage you to read the numerous letters your newsletter has prompted from the community,
review all the findings of the various city departments involved in this matter and meet with our community to review
the situation from our perspective and to respect our position.
We need dry goods not drywall, shirts not shovels and towels not toilets. The community needs a general
merchandise store, not another hardware store, and certainly not a Home Depot.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Bruce C. Fisher
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Dear Senator Runner:
I read with interest your recent newsletter article concerning the proposed Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga. It would
be most beneficial to you and our community, your constituents, if sometime in the near future, you would be able to
meet with us so that our concerns and all the facts could be made clearer to you.
You then will see why Home Depot should not open their proposed store here.
Our community is not opposed to having new businesses here—we would welcome them with open arms--but Home
Depot is not the type of business needed here. We are in desperate need of some type of general merchandise
store--we have to drive to Burbank to buy even a pair of socks. If Home Depot opens their store, that is our very last
hope for this type of store as it is the only piece of property left large enough to accommodate a general
merchandise store in our area. Additionally, there are already many hardware stores in our community and there is
another Home Depot located just 10 minutes away.
The City of Los Angeles loses money because of our having to shop outside of our community for the basic
necessities of life. A scenario of this is—we drive to Burbank to buy some socks, towels or other household items
because there is no general merchandise store in our area. There’s a hardware store nearby to the Burbank
Target. Well, might as well buy that box of nails we need since we are already nearby. Gee, we’re getting hungry
and what do you know? There’s an Olive Garden Restaurant right by the Burbank Target so guess we’ll have our
lunch here. Three types of businesses in one day’s time outside of the City of Los Angeles have received our money
that could have been kept in our community--all because we have no general merchandise store here.
Home Depot belongs in an industrial area and the proposed site is not that type. It is surrounded on 3 sides by
residential areas and an elementary school is just 500 ft. away from this site.
The 18 to 20 diesel delivery trucks from 5:30 AM until 11:00 PM each day in a community that has one main
thoroughfare spells more traffic, noise and air pollution. I don’t think anyone, including you, Senator, would want to
have this happen to the community where they live if there are other alternatives such as a business that better
serves the needs of the community—a general merchandise store.
One of the reasons that Home Depot has been trying any means that they can to avoid an EIR is that they know that
the EIR will reveal the detrimental effects their store will have on our community, thus they will not pass.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and we sincerely hope you will meet with us so a better understanding of
the facts will become known to you. Happy New Year to you, your family and your staff.
Sincerely,
Donna M. Arcaro
Sunland resident for over 24 years
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Dear Senator Runner:
I want to thank you for taking an interest in Sunland-Tujunga. Your support of Home Depot in your Week in Review
edition of December 18, 2008 is unfounded. Now if I may be so bold as to respectfully ask you to take a further step
and follow-up and investigate the misinformation you received from Home Depot.
Our community has been fighting Home Depot for over four years, not because we dislike the big box do it yourself
mega-warehouse (most of us used to shop there), but because Home Depot is not what our Specific Plan, or our
Community Plan, calls for on that 11 acre site.
Home Depot talks about tax revenues. The type of development that is described in our local land-use documents
for that site would bring in more tax revenues than just a "do it yourself building supplier". Our town wants and needs
a general merchandise store (among other things), not another hardware store. We have to shop in Pasadena,
Glendale, Burbank, and Valencia, for our household and clothing needs. This need to travel and shop for basic
necessities, causes all Los Angeles tax revenues, including gas, restaurants, etc., to bleed out.
If Home Depot opens at this location it will also cause other local hardware stores to close, of which we have more
than five in a seven mile radius, not including other Home Depots, and the City of Los Angeles will lose more tax
revenue.
Shall we discuss the school that is less than 500 feet from the proposed Home Depot site,
or the 18 to 20 diesel truck deliveries a day that Home Depot says they will have, or the senior mobile home
park that is adjacent to the proposed Home Depot property, or the fact that this property is surrounded on all three
sides by residents, or the fact that Foothill Boulevard is our only main thoroughfare through our town? I could go on
and on and on...
But the real issue here is about the existing policies and procedures that are in place to ensure the public's health,
safety and welfare. The Los Angeles Planning Department implemented those policies and regulations, such as
CEQA and the local Specific Plan, by denying Home Depot's application for Categorical Exemption from
environmental review. Home Depot does not want to follow the rules ... Home Depot does not want to be required to
mitigate their impacts on the community or the environment ... Home Depot has done everything from the very
beginning to circumvent the law. Please do your homework and do not let them fool you. The City of Los Angeles
has done theirs.
Respectfully,
Paula Jo Warner, Treasurer
Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, Inc.
Proud 20 Year Resident of Sunland Tujunga
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Dear Senator Runner:
I am in receipt of a copy of your Week in Review: December 18, 2008 and read with interest your thoughts about “LA
Planning Commission puts political interest above needs of San Fernando Valley constituents.” As a native son of
Los Angeles and a resident of Sunland for 15 years, with all respect, I believe the City has got it right, for once. The
real constituents are the residents, since we are the voters!
Perhaps, had you known the full facts of this case, you would not have published this article. Home Depot is not one
of the “good guys” here; in fact, they have tried to buy their way into this property. The residents and local business-
owners have successfully blocked every tactic of Home Depot, which continues to try to bypass the regulations.
I invite you to visit our website: http://www.no2homedepot.com where you will find the full story of how our small
community has tirelessly worked together for five years to keep an unwanted business out of our town. We do not
need another big-box hardware store here; there are many other types of stores that would better serve our
community.
Simply put, our actions are focused primarily on insisting City officials require Home Depot to comply with all local
and state regulations regarding occupying this location, including a full Environmental Impact Report, which, as you
know, is required by law.
The latest defeat to Home Depot was the City’s Planning Department denying the application for an exemption to
CEQA. Yet another victory for the constituents of Sunland-Tujunga!
(As an aside, shortly after the Planning Department denied the exemption, Home Depot reinstated its $10 Million
lawsuit against the City and our Councilperson, who they accuse of over-representing her constituents! So, Home
Depot is now suing the very people it seeks to be its customers. This is typical of the convoluted logic that has been
the hallmark of Home Depot’s efforts.)
I assure you, Senator, we are not a bunch of rabble-rousers who oppose any-and-everything new to our community.
We are, however, a group of concerned citizens who want what is best for our community. As part of the Sunland-
Tujunga Alliance (http://www.sunlandtujungaalliance.com/), we are exercising our rights under the provisions of the
City’s Neighborhood Council program to be part of the process that determines our destiny!
At our website, you will find links to other local organizations that have praised our work and are continually amazed
how this tiny “David” has been so successful against the big “Goliath.”
Senator, I am confident that, after reading our side of the Home Depot story, you will agree that ours is the nobler
cause and that you might even include another viewpoint in a future edition of your Week in Review.
Merry Christmas to you, your family and staff!
Sincerely,
Gary Swinhart
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Senator Runner,
Respectfully, from reading your most recent newsletter, you are highly uninformed on the issue of Home Depot
opening in Sunland Tujunga. You are SUPPOSED to represent the PEOPLE of our area - NOT big box corporations
your constituents have been fighting successfully for years. I am truly shocked that you didn't check in to how the
voters feel before publishing that newsletter!
Here are a few facts:
Home Depot would be located with RESIDENTIAL buildings on three sides!
It is mere feet from an elementary school.
In filing for permits with the city, Home Depot has consistently failed to use the Woodward Ave. address which would
immediately alert the city to the proximity of the school, forcing an EIR.
Home Depot has called us racist and even bussed in PAID "supporters" to community meetings. They apparently
have very few unpaid supporters.
Our town, as you surely must be aware, has only one road in / out. It is already severely congested.
What will the many trucks Home Depot needs do to that congested roadway?
There are six Home Depot's within a 30 minute drive. One just six minutes away.
We have many local hardware stores: ACE, True Value, Do It Center and OSH . We don't NEED another one. What
we do need is a household goods store to replace Kmart. We would welcome that with open arms!
This lease will tie up our last large parcel of land for generations! That will mean generations who grow up having to
travel to other communities just to buy household basics!
Once Home Depot saw that our little town wouldn't be fooled, THEY SUED OUR CITY because our representatives
ACTUALLY REPRESENT US!
Are you afraid of getting sued? OR will you REPRESENT YOUR CONSTITUENTS?
I would advise you to actually check your facts and represent us or you may find
the No 2 Home Depot Team working for your opponent come election time.
Happy Holidays!
Holly
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Dear Senator Runner,
I recently read your newsletter article about the proposed Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga. As a resident and
homeowner in Sunland I am grateful for your interest in this very important matter. However, I am dismayed that you
seem to be unaware that the vast majority of Sunland-Tujunga constituents are vehemently opposed to the proposed
store.
Your statement that the “Do-It-Yourself building supplier has played by the rules”, also left me shaking my head in
disbelief, as this does not describe Home Depot’s actions as witnessed by the Sunland-Tujunga community. There
have been many dirty tricks and dubious tactics employed by the Home Depot over the years to try to force this
controversial project on an unwilling community.
In my opinion, the first of these was trying to sneak through extensive remodeling work and construction under a
“tenant improvements permit”. When the full extent of the proposed work was realized, the Zoning Administrator and
LA City Council determined that the work qualified as a Project per the Foothill Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan, and
was/is therefore subject to CEQA regulations and environmental review.
The Home Depot has also resorted to bussing in out-of-town paid “supporters” to meetings, accusing the Sunland-
Tujunga community of being racist, setting up fake websites and many other despicable tactics. In short, they have
lied to and about the residents of Sunland-Tujunga.
Why so much opposition to a Home Depot in this location? Sunland-Tujunga is in need of many things, but a Home
Depot Warehouse store is not one of them. Sunland-Tujunga is already more than adequately served by existing
hardware and home improvement stores, including a Home Depot that is a mere 10-15 minutes away.
The proposed site is in a residential neighborhood and is 440 feet from an elementary school. This type of store with
its 18-20 diesel truck deliveries per day, contractor traffic and noisy equipment used to load and unload deliveries at
all times of the day and night, will only serve to industrialize the area.
There are concerns about how the traffic, noise and pollution generated by this store will affect the Sunland-Tujunga
area, which has one main thoroughfare. There are numerous environmental concerns surrounding this project,
which is why the community has been pushing so hard for so long for a full Environmental Impact Review to be
undertaken, something that the Home Depot has been spending an inordinate amount of money to avoid.
Sunland-Tujunga deserves development that will improve the quality of life of residents, not development for
developments sake. Home Depot is not the only party interested in this site, and if you take the time to talk to the
hard working members of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council and the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, I am sure
you will come to understand why this project is entirely wrong for our town.
I am enclosing a copy of the Department of City Planning’s determination, which I hope you will take the time to read.
I also hope that you will meet with, or seek the opinions of, representatives of the Sunland-Tujunga community,
including local business owners, the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council and the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance.
Thank you for taking the time to hear my concerns.
Sincerely,
Frances Plotkin
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Dear Senator Runner,
You are going to receive much more detailed information from many others about this long fought battle so what I
would like to do is to invite you to come down and check out the site for yourself and you will see that this small,
grassroots group have kept this corporate giant at bay for so many years because when you take the time to look at
the actual facts, you, just like others who sided with them originally, will also change your mind and agree Home
Depot DOES NOT LEGALLY BELONG IN SUNLAND, TUJUNGA
I took the time to read your biography and remember why I was so excited to vote you into office. Your backing of
Jessica's law and defense of and protection of small children was certainly a great reason.
How surprised and upset I was to read your obviously un-investigated support of Home Depot. How unfair it was to
have neglected interviewing your constituents before publishing such a one-sided opinion on your website. If your
office had taken the time to look underneath the surface of HD's lawsuit, you would have found that HD has been
trying to bypass City codes, EIR reports and other laws put in place to protect your constituents in order to establish
an industrial/commercial business within 500 feet (not allowed by law or city codes) of a school for special needs
children. Also, this location is surrounded on three sides by private homes. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Everyone has been under a lot of pressure to bend to the desires of a company that could afford highly paid lawyers
and lobbyist and yet they stood against them. They did it with good reason. It was right. At what point did HD earn
the right for special consideration to be able to bypass the codes and laws that protect our bedroom communities
from becoming industrial ghettos.
"At a time when the economy is in a downturn and when retail chains are closing doors (Mervyns, Linen ‘N Things,
Circuit City, among others) you would think city leaders would embrace the few retailers that are still willing and able
to invest in communities – and particularly those who are re-opening closed retail buildings."
Who makes the decisions as to what our residents want or need? You? Home Depot? Or the residents
themselves? The residents of this town.........
1) By MAJOR majority, do not want or need them! In all these years, only ONE resident wrote three letters in support
of HD.
a) We already have Foothill Hardware, Do-It-Center, True-Value, Osh Hardware, Ace Hardware, Anawalt Lumber,
Merithew's Hardware, Best West Fastners, and at least THREE Home Depots within a 15 minute drive from our town.
How many MORE nuts and bolts can possibly be sold in our area? Is HD offering the city any NEW business or are
they simply going to cannibalize the business already here and put others out of business.
On the other hand......
We ALL have to drive to Burbank (not part of LA), to purchase all our home goods and clothes because there is not
a Target or other type general store in our area to do so. If we're only talking money, how much money is the city
losing to Burbank that could be kept if we were allowed the general store we have designed in the specific plan that
HD is trying to barrel their way through.
2) they, by the very nature of their industrial/commercial business, do not legally or morally belong at the site that
they are attempting to buy, lobby, intimidate and sue their way into. This is a site surrounded on three sides by
private homes and within 500 feet of a special needs school. The 18 tractor trailers a day, contractor trucks, HD
delivery trucks, forklifts, contractors, days laborers and almost 24/7 business will turn our town into the industrial
ghetto's of North Hollywood, Sylmar and Pacoima.
We are a small bedroom community that still has horses and goats and bake sales and 4th of July parades and HD
does not fit in the Specific Plan designed by the residents who live here.
3) "Instead of welcoming progress and ushering in economic recovery, the Los Angeles City Council and the Los
Angeles Planning Department have done nothing but prevent Home Deport from re-opening a former K-Mart building
in Sunland-Tujunga."
There are facts about this case that you could not possibly be aware of to have given your support to HD. Anyone
who looks at the facts, and is not someway financially or politically tied to HD, has sided with the
residents of our town and agreed that HD is the wrong business for that site.
You could not have spoken to the Los Angeles City Council or the Los Angeles Planning Department and have made
this statement on your site. Do you think they sided against HD because they think we're cute?
They sided with us because the facts were on our side.
4) We have been asking for a full, UNBIASED EIR and there is a reason HD doesn't just go ahead and do one. They
know they won't pass. So when they couldn't bully the LACC and the Mayor couldn't force their way past the courts,
they now turned to you.
The very fact that you can give them support on your website when they are already breaking laws and requirements
that were put in place to protect our community shows that your staff could not possibly have given you all the
information needed to make a qualified decision.
Please, before you throw our town under the bus without actually looking at the facts and meeting the people and the
town, please meet with our group and you, like all the others before you, will agree
NO HOME DEPOT IN OUR TOWN!!!!!
MaryLouise Eckman
Sunland, CA
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Dear Senator Runner-
I just read your Week in Review opinion and I am quite shocked.
You obviously haven't a clue as to what has been going on concerning the
proposed Home Depot store up here in Sunland-Tujunga. If you think a store
of that size and type is a good idea in this neighborhood, you are listening
to the HD PR machine, and not to "we the people".
We the community have been fighting this project since day one, and it's a battle
that has been ongoing for 4+ years. It is NOT the kind of business we should have at this
location.
Welcoming progress and ushering in economic recovery? A business
of that type will put many smaller business in this community out of
business. They won't supply enough jobs to make up the difference, and the
location? 400 feet from an elementary school? You really need to get
yourself better informed if you want to get in the middle of this battle.
HD has worked many public officials on this matter, and not one of them has
come out smelling very good if you know what I mean. You are one of a long
list of people HD has used to try to get around a full EIR.
It's probably time to ask yourself, why has HD spent so much time and money
trying to skirt this process? You are new to this ongoing battle, please do
a little investigating, you will find you are currently on the wrong side of
the fence.
Respectfully,
John Ciasulli....Tujunga resident.
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Dear Senator Runner:
The community of Sunland/Tujunga was stunned by the remarks in your recent newsletter. I say that because
thousands of people signed petitions to stop Home Depot from opening at that location. A series of community
meetings were held by the Sunland Tujunga Neighborhood Council and later by the Office of the City Attorney and
the Dispute Resolution Board under Avis Ridley-Thomas, Director over a four year period. Each meeting showed
overwhelming support for the community that no Home Depot should open at that location. If you check with L.A.
Planning Dept. for letters supporting HD, you will find three. Two from the same person. While there, look at the
stack of mail rejecting HD.
For four years the community has come together in a way I have never seen before and I have lived in S/T for 62
years. I operated a family pharmacy that served the community for 56 years. In the process over $10,000 in
donations from members of the community were collected to pay for a structural engineer and land use attorney so
that we could make our case. The community held bake sales, silent auctions, yard sales and what ever it took to
raise the money.
Members of the community worked for over ten years starting with Councilman Joel Wachs to develop the Foothill
Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan which is the key to the whole dispute. The issue is a “Project” which demands an
EIR at some level and HD knows there are problems with a local school, traffic, noise & air pollution (particulate
matter), and health issues. The Home Depot store would be surrounded on three sides by a bedroom community
which will become blighted because of heavy truck traffic, forklift backup beepers blasting 12 hours a day, contractor
trucks loading all day, diesel particulate mater and unsafe conditions for the local elementary school less than 500
feet away.
If Home Depot had followed the rules instead of their continued deception they “might” have opened by now. When
HD submitted their original plans to remodel the K Mart building, the changes were so extensive that the Planning
Dept designated the remodeling as a “Project” under the Foothill Blvd. Corridor Specific Plan.
HD withdrew the plans and resubmitted them with most of the remodeling removed and permits were issued. As work
progressed the community realized that the original extensive remodeling was taking place without an EIR. The
remodeling was so extensive that all of the outside walls had to be braced with steel beams to prevent collapse.
The community challenged HD and the Planning Dept. and eventually the permits were withdrawn and HD sued the
city. The Specific Plan requires a Project to go through the CEQA regulations and environmental review. HD tried to
base their CEQA exemption based on the old K Mart which has been vacant for two years. They claimed that the HD
traffic would be less than the vacant K Mart. Their building is the same size as the K Mart.
Exemptions are based on current conditions, not the original building of the 70's. The L.A. Planning Dept determined
that HD’s request for categorical exemption from environmental clearance is not appropriate.
Have you wondered how this small mountain community has stopped one of the world’s largest corporations?
Perhaps it’s time you visited with your constituents face to face to find out what it is like for a small community to
face off with HD representatives who monitor our every move. Who have bussed in out of town paid supporters to
the Planning Dept. so that there is no room for S/T people to sit and then demand that we leave. Who have publicly
declared that the community is racist.
I am proud of Sunland-Tujunga and you should be too. We take our environment seriously. We have been a
community for people with respiratory problems such as asthma since the 1920's.
Respectfully submitted,
W. Lloyd Hitt, Pharm D
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
Regarding your news letter statements concerning LA City Planing and Home depot:
In fact Sir, contrary to your statement, the opening of a Home Depot in Sunland would do more to hurt our economy
then help it. I live directly south of the opposed site and have an OSH, a Do It Center and
a True Value within 5 minutes of my home. Yet I and my neighbors have to drive for 30 minutes to buy clothing.
How would another hardware store benefit us?
We have sustained a four year fight to keep HD out and get a Target or Wal Mart on the property.
I have nothing against big chain stores, I just don't need another hardware store. This is not a large community and
a Home Depot would over supply our hardware needs. Where is the economic advantage in that?
I invite you to visit www.no2homedepot.com web site to research views of a good portion of your constituency.
I would also like to invite you to a Sunland/Tujunga Alliance and or No Home Depot Meeting, to gain first hand
knowledge of the issue.
And of course I would be happy to give you a personal tour of the opposed site and detail the problems Home Depot
would cause.
Yours,
William Bosworth
registered voter Sunland California
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
I am a homeowner and 10 year resident of Sunland, CA. I am greatly concerned about the proposed Home Depot
site on Foothill Blvd. in Sunland, CA for the reasons I will state below.
Sunland-Tujunga is a community in a small valley about 5 miles long and about 1 ½ miles wide. It has one main
artery - Foothill Blvd - which has two freeway accesses only and they are 5 miles apart. The proposed site it in the
middle of this 5 mile area. That means that Home Depot's expected 18-20 diesel truck deliveries each day will have
to travel this stretch of Foothill Blvd. This is a residential area, not an industrial area. Home Depot is an industrial
supply warehouse. The amount of traffic that they will produce with their delivery trucks and contractors coming to
their store will totally clog up an already heavily traveled road. It will also mean greatly increased air pollution due to
the nature of this small valley. Add to that the noise in this residential area.
This property also has a Woodward Ave address that is within 500 feet of an elementary school. The store hours
would be 5:30 am to 11:00 pm so the traffic on Woodward with drop offs and pick ups at the school will create
another clogged traffic situation. The former K-Mart at this site was an entirely different establishment. They had a
couple of delivery trucks a week and were here to provide household goods to this community.
Home Depot is aimed at servicing contractors and its presence will turn this residential community into an industrial
community and ruin the quality of life for the people living here.
In addition to the traffic and smog this proposed site adjoins residential backyards and a senior mobile home park.
There is no way that these people will not be disturbed by noise throughout the night since Home Depot will be
operating after 11:00 pm with stocking activities involving forklifts and the beep, beep, beep of backup alerts.
Home Depot has talked about the increased revenue to the City by their presence here, to the increased number of
jobs they would supply, to the amount of lost income to the City by the purchase of their products at other stores
outside the City. These of course are all bogus arguments since any stores that go in there will supply jobs and
revenue to the City. In addition, there is no general merchandise store in this community so the City is losing money
everyday since myself and my neighbors have to travel to Glendale or Burbank to buy general merchandise that is
needed in everyday living.
This is the wrong store for this location. It will destroy this community by injecting industrial presence into a
residential community.
Again, I must insist that a FULL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT be properly done with a full assessment of
the impact Home Depot, at this Sunland site, would have on the residents and the air, water and noise in this narrow
valley.
Sincerely,
Donna Greisen
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Senator Runner: We don't have the Home Depot in Sunland because no one in Sunland Tujunga wants the store
here. The City staff is simply following the wishes of the residents. I'm a Home Depot customer but I can go to the
store in the City of San Fernando.
Freeman
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
As a resident of Sunland I was very disappointed to read your Week in Review edition of December 18, 2008
regarding your position on Home Depot's attempts to open a store in Sunland.
You have been hornswoggled by Home Depot. Home Depot would have had their store open for business months if
not years ago if they had only paid attention to long standing ordinances. Furthermore, you should not blame the
City of Los Angeles for enforcing these ordinances. If we as citizens see our government bending and breaking City
ordinances in order to accommodate a business, whether it be big or small, respect for the law is diminished and
eventually destroyed.
Respect for the law is what is at issue here in Sunland-Tujunga.
Being as you are a law-and-order man and a State Senator who represents Sunland-Tujunga I ask that you examine
the issues surrounding Home Depot's quest to establish its store here before you add your support to Home Depot
and its spin.
Sincerely,
Bill Skiles
____________________________________________________________________________________________
As a representative to the people, what you stated about Home Depot and Sunland/Tujunga was one sided and
clearly "funded" by Home Depot. Our community only asks that they follow the law and do what is required to open
a/any store. They need to know that our representatives cannot be "bought". Our representatives should come to our
community and speak with us. Perhaps you can talk with one of your colleagues, Wendy Gruel, and find out the
impact this store would have on our community. Or better yet, perhaps you can encourage Home Depot to follow the
law and get a full Environmental Impact Report before you comment...
There are several Home Depots only a short drive away in industrial areas, where they belong...
We need a general merchandise store that meets the needs of our lower income, senior residents and this entire
community...
I am shocked that you would come out with the statement that you did without being informed of both sides.
Kimberly Ogle
Tujunga
I am the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of a non-profit, grassroots neighborhood group who works for real planning and
good land use in Sunland-Tujunga.
It is with great interest that I read your recent "Week in Review" update on the web.
I am shocked that you would post comments about an issue you know nothing about.
The only information you seem to have is the fancy, fact-less Press Release that was sent out by Home Depot's PR
firm.
Your comments clearly indicate that you know nothing about Sunland-Tujunga, and we are supposedly in your
district! Just the simple fact that the former Kmart store is not a strip-mall as you have described; but a 30 year old
box that sits on an 11-acre lot and is a key piece of commercial property, the only site large enough in the middle of
our residential neighborhood that is suitable for a shopping center that would serve the residents needs.
Additionally, the decision to deny Home Depot's request for Categorical Exemption from CEQA was made
by the City of Los Angeles Planning Department. Not a Planning Commission. Home Depot has been seeking to
escape environmental review and avoid mitigations of the impacts their warehouse store would have on our
neighborhood for 4 years.
We would be happy to send you more information. Please check out our websites until then - www.no2homedepot.
com OR www.sunlandtujungaalliance.com
Thank you,
Abby Diamond
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Runner,
I am responding to your newsletter comments regarding a proposed Home Depot in Sunland. I would appreciate the
opportunity to fully inform you of the land use issues and the community's extensive involvement regarding a store at
this site in our community. I look forward to hearing from you so an appointment can be arranged.
Thank you,
Cindy Cleghorn,
Business Owner Member various business and community organizations.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I am writing in regards to your recent newsletter that featured an article about Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga.
I believe that the statements you made indicate that you are not familiar with the circumstances of this situation.
Our community has fought a 4 year battle to keep Home Depot out of our community. We have fought as a united
community and have been victorious to date. I would like the opportunity to speak with you about this matter. I believe
that once you understand all of our reasons for not wanting this store in our community you will have a clearer picture
and may want to change your position. At least that is my hope. I can be reached by telephone, email, or I would be
more than happy to meet with you in person.
You have obviously heard only one side of the story (from Home Depot), and I think you should give your
constituents equal time to make our case.
Thank you so much, and have a wonderful holiday.
Joe Barrett
President
Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, Inc.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I am sure that by now you have received many letters from your constituents in Sunland-Tujunga regarding the
proposed Home Depot. I assume that you are now aware of the many reasons we oppose the project, so I won’t go
into details. If you were to investigate, you would find that there is a four year history of legal actions and that neither
we nor the City of Los Angeles oppose business here; but reasons have been found why this business cannot
establish itself in a community that has strongly expressed its objections—without due process.
Home Depot has done all it can to railroad that process (including avoiding doing a full EIR) and, by contacting you,
obviously is expanding their power beyond the local area. The City has Community and Specific Plans for the area
and this project does not fit those Plans.
We are not anti-business—we are anti-inappropriate business! The community wants and needs (as spelled out in
the above-mentioned Plans), a pedestrian-friendly commercial and recreational community center anchored by a
general merchandiser with other supportive businesses and services. Such a center would bring in far more tax
revenue and create less disruption and destruction of the unique semi-rural area than would an unneeded Home
Depot and would, additionally, provide far more jobs. I might add that the disputed site is the only one in Sunland
that could accommodate such a center. It’s either that or the Home Depot—we can’t have both.
I hope that you would agree that the stakeholders and voters of Sunland-Tujunga should be applauded for
expressing their wishes in a legal and responsible manner—democratically—and expecting that their voices be heard
and considered by their elected representatives. This is, after all, government of the People, by the People and for
the People.
We look forward to your knowledgeable input and your support.
Sincerely,
Marc Dodell
___________________________________________________________________________________________
I was disappointed to read the “Week in Review” article on your website dated
December 18, 2008 regarding Home Depot’s plans to build a store in Sunland-Tujunga.
Even though you have been elected to represent the residents of the Sunland-Tujunga area,
you have chosen to regurgitate Home Depot propaganda on your website and ignore both
the facts of the matter and what the residents of the area want for their community.
Home Depot is attempting to introduce a huge commercial warehouse store into a
residential community that will be detrimental to the quality of life for the residents of
the community and is neither wanted nor needed in the area. They’ve tried to
circumvent any type of review of this project and the major impact that it
would have on the area by passing it off as remodeling an existing structure
rather than acknowledge the extensive modifications that they have made to the
building and completely ignoring the ongoing disruptions to the local area that
this store would have on the surrounding community. After reviewing scope of
this project, the City of Los Angeles has correctly determined that they are
indeed so extensive that they warrant a full Environmental Impact Report.
The community needs a general-purpose retailer, such as Target or Wal-Mart
(or even another Kmart) in this location, since our only option is to drive to Burbank or
Glendale tobuy general necessities. There are several alternative hardware stores in the
community, including a Home Depot store within a 10 minute drive of this
location. Home Depot is determined to complete this project regardless of the
needs or desires of the local community, and they’re willing to achieve this
goal by any means available to them.
I hope that you can visit us in Sunland-Tujunga in the near future so that you can experience
our unique location and we can show you why we feel that this project is
inappropriate for our community. You can also visit www.no2homedepot.com to see
how to see how strongly the residents of Sunland-Tujunga feel about their
opposition to this project.
Respectfully,
Bill Lindamood
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Hello Senator, I and my newspaper, The Foothills Paper, have been a staunch supporter of you and your ideas for
the past four years. I think that you are completely off base when you take Home Depot's side in the Sunland-
Tujunga assault.
"Home Depot wants to bring commerce, jobs and life back to a San Fernando Valley strip mall; furthermore,
management from the Do-It-Yourself building supplier has played by the rules outlined in the California Environmental
Quality Act."
You might ask "Why is he calling it an assault?" Well George, it's because Home Depot's management, public
relations companies and field staff, have lied to us and the City. They have fabricated and tried to create the illusion
of a racist community. They have imported paid supporters and clothed them with bright orange T shirts to attend
our community meetings.
I respectfully submit that you are not in touch with what is really happening here in our community. Your statement
about Home Depot meeting the requirements of the Calif. Environmental Quality Act, ignores the fact that Home
Depots proposed building creates a safety problem to the children and residents within 500' of their proposed
building.
If for no other reason, I feel that you should not support Home Depot because they have lied both to the community
and the City of Los Angeles.
Please reconsider your alliance with Home Depot.
Yours, as always,
Doc
Editor
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
As a 30 year Sunland Tujunga resident and a representative of the Sunland Tujunga Neighborhood Council I have to
ask you to please take a look at the battle that my community, your constituents, have waged against Home Depot
putting a warehouse business in the small bedroom community of Sunland.
Before denying Home Depot's request to obtain a categorical exemption under the California's Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) the Los Angeles City Planning Commission made a thorough investigation and I would like you to do the
same before siding with Home Depot.
Please look at the facts, independent of Home Depot's PR letters or paid lobbyists pressure before carrying Home
Depot's banner of support. Yes, we do need jobs in Sunland Tujunga but not at the expense of our children who's
schools are less than 500 feet from the site, our small hardware businesses who have served Sunland Tujunga for
decades, our infrastructure, and our environment. I welcome your response.
Have a Happy, Healthy Holiday Season,
Belinda Woodruff
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner, 29 December 2008
I am so disappointed by your newsletter promoting the benefits of opening a Home Depot in my town. I wish you
would have asked the residents and your constituents first. As a long term Neighborhood Council member (since
2000) and HOA President and a Real Estate Broker I have a very good sense of what the general view of our public
is.
I was trying to fashion an explanation to you and ran across my notes from the last time Home Depot came to town
presenting to the land use committee. You can read the inconsistencies that existed in their application,
the attempts to ignore the community, and the downright deceit practiced by this corporation in an effort to slip
through the city. It’s pretty horrific reading. Please have a look if you can handle the truth.
Sincerely, Tomi Lyn Bowling
Land Use Chair for Sunland Tujunga
*******************************************
Tomi Lyn Bowling
Home Depot Presentation
12 May 2008
My questions are: (It is understood that others may ask about these subjects in which case I will not, and it is
understood that not all questions or comments may be permitted due to time constraints and others’ comments and
questions and this is in no particular order except number one which I would like to note immediately, before they
even present.)
1. First, and foremost I want it noted in the minutes that the agreement all presenters sign, page 1, has the
following paragraph in it:
“I understand and agree that if the information I present to the Design Advisory Committee (DAC) in an effort to gain
their support is found to be deceptive or untruthful that the DAC reserves the right to withdraw its support. I will do
what I say I am going to do within the time I said I would do it. I agree to have the DAC verify and approve the
implementation of the agreed upon materials, colors and design prior to final approval and occupancy.”
This is the standard language in all of our presenter agreements. We normally have no problem getting presenters to
sign and agree to these terms, though it is not a requirement. Normally the presenters are confident that their project
is something that will really contribute to the betterment of the community and they intend to “work with the
community” therefore they are confident that this language is easy for them to agree to. Home Depot’s
representatives refused to sign it and crossed it off in their application noting “not applicable” where a signature is
required.
2. Read the Purposes of the Specific Plan, Section 2 intro paragraph with the word
“complement” defined first, and then A & B, E, K and L
COMPLEMENT = Completing part; something that completes or perfects
something else. Encarta Dictionary, definition#1
• Trucks/Woodward=
• As part of the circulation, the truck traffic and Woodward Avenue need to be
Addressed ie; how did they arrive at the figures in the plan for the amount of
Trucks HD expects to have weekly at this location, was it by store traffic in a
Currently opened store, if so which one, or was it by zip code analysis?
• How did they arrive at the figure for the amount of deliveries in the old Kmart, ie; did they see the shipping
receipts or by zip code or another store or? Page 2 Project Description.
• Here it should be noted that Friday, 9 May, I spoke to Kmart in Burbank a lady named Ramona in Receiving
said they receive four semi truck deliveries per week. She went to verify before finalizing the figure she gave me.
• Woodward is currently the required access/exit per the existing Q condition. It is not enforceable and is no
additional mitigation to say this will be done. Woodward is still a major pathway to both the Apperson Elementary
School, Mount Gleason Middle School and Verdugo Hills High School.
• Regarding the proximity to Apperson Elementary School, there are
337 students there. That is 337 reasons to require a full EIR by the applicant.
3. Read also from the FBCSP, Section 8, A. Land Use Prohibitions, as needed
Item G “open storage”.
4. The obvious question of why HD do not offer to do a full and complete Environmental Impact Report with full
mitigation should be offered.
5. The hours of the old Kmart are noted, on page 2 of the Project Description, as being from 6am to midnight
seven days per week. After checking with Kmart the hours of Kmart were from 8am until 10pm, with a few exceptions
during the holidays. The store operating hours were later in the morning and closing earlier in the evenings. 10am
to 9pm.
6. The proposal state, page 3, that it does comply with the FBCSP yet per the above it is in contradiction to it.
7. Read from page 4 of the FBCSP, note that there are 34 uses stated as needs of the community and uses that
are needed retail and another 24 listed as neighborhood services. Although hardware is listed it is one of 58 uses
listed and we already have 6 local hardware stores. None of those are the sale or rental of construction supplies,
trailer sales and rentals, lumber, professional contractor services or rental of heavy construction equipment or
warehouses.
• At this point read from the Home Depot website wherein it states that HD “operates 478 WAREHOUSE stores
and sells…” including the list of stocks. Show as well the PRO page from the web site.
• Warehouse: Definition: 1. Storage building: a large building in which goods, raw materials, or commodities are
stored
2. big store: a large store, especially one where goods are sold wholesale
• Also on their web site it states “world’s largest seller of certified wood products.”
• Also note promotional sales to professionals that purchase of 40 or more of one appliance is a 15% discount
and 20 or more is 10% discount.
8. The Department of Justice on February 26th of this year where Home Depot agreed to a $1.3 million dollar
penalty for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act at 30 sites in 28 states and in this complaint the government
alleged a pattern of violations that the EPA discovered through state and federal inspections.
9. The sale of trailers would seem to introduce an auto use.
10. The enclosure of the loading area would seem to be adding square footage and an expansion though the
application states “no expansion of the existing store building is proposed.”
11. In previous hearings with this project it was stated by Home Depot officials that the former Kmart had
removed all of the auto repair equipment yet the current application states “This area contains several hydraulic lifts,
floor drains, and a three stage wastewater clarifier in the adjacent outside parking area, all of which would be
removed. In addition, the concrete slab in the former auto center would be removed and replaced, and the asphalt
parking lot adjoining this area would be patched or replaced. This issue alone warrants a full EIR.
It should be noted in any real estate transaction for commercial property the removal of such items, in the state of
California, will almost certainly, always, result in a full and complete EIR.
11. It is noted in the LADBS Building Code amendment (103.4) of this year that making false statements to the
department is punishable as a misdemeanor.
Tomi Lyn Bowling
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
I was disappointed to read the “Week in Review” article on your website dated
December 18, 2008 regarding Home Depot’s plans to build a store in Sunland-Tujunga.
Even though you have been elected to represent the residents of the Sunland-Tujunga
area, you have chosen to regurgitate Home Depot propaganda on your website and ignore both the facts of the
matter and what the residents of the area want for their community.
Home Depot is attempting to introduce a huge commercial warehouse store into a residential community that will be
detrimental to the quality of life for the residents of the community and is neither wanted nor needed in the area.
They’ve tried to circumvent any type of review of this project and the major impact that it would have on the area by
passing it off as remodeling an existing structure rather than acknowledge the extensive modifications that they have
made to the building and completely ignoring the ongoing disruptions to the local area that
this store would have on the surrounding community.
After reviewing the scope of this project, the City of Los Angeles has correctly determined that they are indeed so
extensive that they warrant a full Environmental Impact Report.
The community needs a general-purpose retailer, such as Target or Wal-Mart (or even another
Kmart) in this location, since our only option is to drive to Burbank or Glendale to
buy general necessities. There are several alternative hardware stores in the
community, including a Home Depot store within a 10 minute drive of this
location. Home Depot is determined to complete this project regardless of the
needs or desires of the local community, and they’re willing to achieve this
goal by any means available to them.
I hope that you can visit us in Sunland-Tujunga in the near future so that you can experience
our unique location and we can show you why we feel that this project is
inappropriate for our community. You can also visit www.no2homedepot.com to see
how to see how strongly the residents of Sunland-Tujunga feel about their
opposition to this project.
Respectfully,
Bill Lindamood
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Senator Runner,
I recently watched a movie called, The Women. It was the worst movie I had seen in a very long time. The dialogue
and the acting were horrible and all the critics agreed, except for one. After reading this critic’s positive review I
couldn’t help but think that this reviewer had not even seen the movie in question. He merely relied on the fact that
the stars of this movie were very well known actresses who, usually, are very good in their roles and that the movie
was a remake and the original was fantastic. I lost all confidence in this reviewer because he did not do his
homework. He tried to pull a “fast one” on us.
Well… Senator Runner, I am now looking at you in the same light. Did you get your information about the proposed
Sunland Tujunga Home Depot FROM Home Depot? Did YOU do your homework on this subject before giving it your
endorsement?
Below is a list of the main points of the community’s opposition. I did copy and paste this list from the no2homedepot
website but the words are the COMMUNITY’S words. We are vehemently opposed to Home Depot. We have done
our homework and are united in our opposition.
Please keep in mind that you are OUR representative not Home Depot’s.
1. The proposed use of the former K-Mart structure is not simply the reuse of existing building. It has been
extensively remodeled, and the Zoning Administrator and the Los Angeles City Council have determined the
construction work qualifies as a Project per our Specific Plan and is subject to CEQA regulations and environmental
review.
2. The store proposed by Home Depot is not similar in the least to what the former K-Mart was. This is an attempt to
force a much more intensive operation into a residential neighborhood, with an elementary school less than 500 ft
away. The proposed Home Depot use is more than "minor construction where there will be negligible or non
expansion of use."
3. Home Depot had based their application for CEQA Exemption on the former Kmart use and traffic patterns, yet the
site has been empty and unused for over 2 years. CEQA Guidelines state that the lead agency's determination must
be based on the existing conditions at the time the application is made. In plain English, this means that
the Planning Department cannot allow Home Depot a CEQA exemption from environmental review because
the existing condition is a vacant building and a vacant site.
4. The Los Angeles Planning Department has evaluated thousands of pages of information in this case, including
varied and opposite opinions from several experts. They have determined that Home Depot's request for categorical
exemptions from environmental clearance is not appropriate.
Thank you and have a safe and healthy New Year.
Robin Meares
23 year resident of Tujunga
____________________________________________________________________________________________
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