Santa Clarita Valley restaurants and other food-service providers will soon be required to ask residents if they’d like disposable food-ware with their orders after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion during Tuesday’s regular meeting aimed at reducing waste.
After considering feedback from relevant business representatives and advocates for the environment, the motion called for ordinance language to be drafted requiring restaurants to furnish disposable foodware only upon request, while also requiring third-party, app-based delivery companies to include an option to affirmatively request plates and utensils.
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes the SCV, expressed her support for the motion during the meeting, adding that not only do disposable utensils create waste, but they also create an additional overhead cost for restaurants, who are “barely able to make ends meet during these times.”
The Board of Supervisors also unanimously approved a motion to allow L.A. County to be ready for its share of funds when the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimburses $2 billion in COVID-19-related funeral expenses for families, per the most recent $900 billion stimulus bill, with funding expected to become available for costs incurred through Dec. 31, 2020, according to the legislation.
While FEMA has yet to clarify program guidelines, this move puts into motion plans for county officials to assess the feasibility of implementing the FEMA burial cost program, focusing on how it will be implemented in California to provide reimbursement of burial costs for county residents.
Another motion passed unanimously is set to allow county officials to coordinate with local and regional transit operators, authorities and companies to allow residents transportation and direct access to the various COVID-19 vaccination sites.
SCV-related matters
The Board of Supervisors also continued to work toward mitigating Southern California Edison’s Public Safety Power Shutoffs, or PSPS, an ongoing concern for SCV residents who have been affected for the past couple of years.
The board unanimously approved a motion to allow relevant county departments, led by the Office of Emergency Management, to look at options for an accountability framework to lessen the negative outcomes of PSPS events for Edison’s customers.
In addition, the board approved the transfer of funds to the L.A. County Development Authority on behalf of the Tesoro Del Valle project, which was approved in June 2020 to develop an additional 1,279 acres of vacant property in the community.
The project is set to develop a new residential community, including nearly 700 detached single-family residences and more than 100 condominium units for families and seniors, totaling 820 dwelling units, as well as community amenities, such as a senior recreation center, a linear park and open space, north of the current Tesoro Del Valle community.
The motion is expected to allow the developer, BLC Tesoro LLC, to deposit a $1.64-million payment as part of the new phase of the project, to the LACDA to serve homeless families and individuals, with the allocation of these funds prioritized first to the city of Santa Clarita, then within the SCV, and then within the 5th District, which includes the SCV.
Two more motions for projects in the unincorporated communities of Acton and Val Verde were also unanimously approved by the supervisors.
The first revises the budget for safety improvements to Fire Camp 11, also known as the Acton Conservation Camp, located on the 8800 block of Soledad Canyon Road. The budget for the improvements to the camp, which houses some of the inmate camp crews, is to be reduced from $6.2 million to $3.4 million.
The second motion was to approve a water main on Del Valle Road in Val Verde at an estimated construction cost of $2.1-$3.1 million.
