Moyle Resigns from Planning Commission

By Jorge Casuso

July 8 -- Geraldine Moyle, a slow-growth advocate and close ally of former Planning Commissioner Kelly Olsen, has submitted her resignation from the powerful board, citing a conflict with her "day job."

Moyle's resignation, effective August 30, comes less than one month after Olsen failed in his bid for reappointment to the seven-member commission, which decides the fate of proposed developments. He was replaced by Terry O'Day, the owner of a Los Angeles-based electric vehicle rent-a-car company.

In her letter of resignation, dated August 1, Moyle said her teaching post at UCLA was interfering with her work on the commission, prompting her "to miss meetings or leave them early."

" As most of my fellow-commissioners know, I have given serious consideration to taking this step over the course of the last year, as serious time conflicts with my 'day job' have escalated due to a (welcome) change in my teaching workload," Moyle wrote in her letter.

Mayor Richard Bloom said Moyle would be missed.

"I'm disappointed," Bloom said. "I don't know what the reason was for her resignation, but we'll miss her."

Although the City Clerk's office and the mayor said they had not received the letter of resignation Moyle said she had submitted, the move came as no surprise.

Rumors had been circulating for several months that Moyle -- whose term expires on June 30, 2004 -- was prepared to step down if Olsen was not reappointed.

However, there was no mention of Olsen's departure in her letter or in an email sent to The Lookout, which notes that she had "broached resignation" months before Olsen's removal.

"While I had broached resignation as early as April of this year, for a variety of reasons, I was persuaded to stay through the summer," Moyle wrote.

Commissioner Jay Johnson said Moyle had long talked about resigning from the board due to her work schedule and that the Olsen's removal may have been "the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I know she was very disappointed that Kelly was not reappointed," Johnson said. "It was another major negative that made her somewhat frustrated with the direction of the board."

In her letter of resignation, Moyle encouraged the planning division and the commission to continue to guarantee fairness for applicants and "meaningful protections" for residents by proactively enforcing the code.

She added in her email to The Lookout that "the City Council & the Planning Division now possess improved tools with which to pursue this goal -- as long as the political will is present to do so."

Moyle's colleagues on the Planning Commission said they would miss her wit and wealth of knowledge, particularly when it concerned her Ocean Park community and its history.

"She's made wonderful contributions to the meetings," said Chair Darrell Clarke. "The way she views and describes things has contributed a special perspective to some issues. It's a very literate quality, the right turn of phrase. It really illuminates a discussion."

"She had an intimate knowledge of the Ocean Park community, not just current issues but history," Johnson said. "That's a very important resource. She's very erudite, well spoken and brings a knowledge of community concerns, process and additional institutional memory we lost with Kelly.

"We've lost an asset," Johnson said. "Her input will be sorely missed."

Appointed to the commission in June 2000, Moyle was part of the City Council's effort to shift the balance of power on the board, which the slow-growth council majority viewed as putting the interests of developers before those of residents.

"Neighborhood issues and resident interests are going to get attention," Moyle told The Lookout shortly after her appointment. "The slow growth sentiment was in the grassroots and it's what people voted for.... I anticipate a great deal of synchronization between the commission and the council."

One of the key issues Moyle hoped to address was what she viewed as the liberal issuance of Conditional Use Permits that allow projects to be built that do not comply with development standards.

"CUPs are given out like candy on Halloween," Moyle said at the time.