Culver City is urging all residents to attend a special meeting June 20 to update and review what's happening with the Inglewood Oil Field Project. This oil field is the largest urban oil field in the United States. 10% of the oil field is in Culver City; 90% is in unincorporated LA County.
While Culver City residents may be deeply concerned about the oil field plans, the city's control is limited.
The plan and processes have been acted upon by previous City Councils. After April's City Council election, the composition of the City Council changed. The two new members were not on the City Council when the current oil field process started; it's possible that a new City Council might want to go in a different direction from the former one. The new City Council might also want to review the large number of community concerns expressed to the city.
Discussion will include public transparency, utilization and assignment of City resources, and incorporation of public feedback, all of which may affect future decisions. Public comment and questions may be addressed at the meeting.
Previous city councils generally followed regulations put in place by the county; discussions may focus on making regulations in Culver City stronger than those in the county.
Three community meetings were held to inform residents and address questions; the public review period for Culver City's specific plan ended March 14.
The informative community meeting will be held Wednesday, June 20, 6:30 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers, 9770 Culver Boulevard.
"I think it will be interesting on the 20th," predicted Vice-Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells.
"There's a lot of desire by most of the public in Culver City to phase out oil drilling altogether and not have it at all. If that's the direction the City Council decides to go in, a lot of residents will be very happy."
The Vice-Mayor explained: "This meeting is for getting input from the new City Council. We base what we do on feedback from residents.
"We absolutely encourage residents to come and tell us how the future of oil drilling should be in Culver City."
Vice-Mayor Sahli-Wells explained what might happen: "I think we've got a great opportunity here to take this in a new direction. From the feedback from residents I've heard over the past several years, there's a lot of appetite to look beyond fossil fuels and into cleaner ways of treating our environment.
"There's an old plan to transform the largest urban oil field in the U.S. into the Central Park of the West. I think it's a really beautiful vision. If we can realize that vision, it would be an overwhelmingly positive thing for not only Culver City, but the whole region."
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