Woodland Hills Council Approves Budgets

Vern C. Gillmore

Talk about being well organized--the Woodland Hills City Council took only 20 minutes to approve two years worth of budgets. The first action was making amendments to the existing 2007-08 budget which expires on June 30th. After a review, minor changes were made resulting in its approval. The second action was adoption of the proposed 2008-09 fiscal year budget which takes effect immediately upon expiration of the 2007-08 budget.

The Woodland Hills (WH) Planning Commission approved the application from Platte Clark for a conditional use permit to operate a business called Magister Entertainment. The business description indicates that they are writers and would have no visitors or additional traffic, noise pollution, etc., which would affect the neighborhood in any manner. The application was approved.

The Woodland Hills (WH) Public Hearing was a lively one. One spectator inquired, "Will this monster ever be tamed?" Then she murmured "probably not." The "monster" was the long reviled, revised, debated, and despised City Fencing Ordinance. The ordinance was one of three items on the City Public Hearing agenda. The hearing on the fencing ordinance was required because the city council approved the ordinance after making numerous changes which had not been publicly discussed at an earlier hearing. The purpose of the hearing was to get citizen input, and they got it. Not a single person spoke in favor of the ordinance. Resident Becky Provstgaard said she was totally opposed to the ordinance, particularly the portion which says she cannot put up a fence within thirty feet of her front property line. She also said that the city has many unnecessary ordinances which makes it more expensive to build in WH and discourages new development. Jody Stones says she wants to put in a sports court, but according to the ordinance, she would have to put it almost right against her house. Others expressed displeasure with sections pertaining to corrals, setbacks, type of materials, etc. Planning Commission Chairman Wayne Frandsen thanked the participants for their input and then proceeded to the next item.

This is the time of year to gorge on fruit--luscious peaches, plums, berries and melons. They're all in season and at their least expensive right now--especially if you're lucky enough to happen upon a little produce stand or someone selling melons in the back of a truck. In the more rural South, it's not unusual to find little produce stands set up in people's front yards, selling the bounty from their gardens and fruit trees.