Chelsea Byers Pushes Back on Calls for Recusal as SCAG Keeps West Hollywood’s K Line Stations

West Hollywood’s proposed K Line Northern Extension stations stayed on the state’s SB 79 transit density map Thursday after the Southern California Association of Governments’ Regional Council voted to approve the methodology behind it. The vote came despite the fact that the City has not formed the financing district Metro required before approving the extension’s route.

Some on the council argued the vote was a formality regardless of the concerns raised. Lake Elsinor Councilmember Steve Manos told the Regional Council the outcome was preordained. “This is the appearance of a public hearing. It’s not a real public hearing. We have no choice. We have to approve the map,” Manos said.

SCAG Deputy Director of Land Use Elizabeth Carvajal presented the updated methodology to the Regional Council. She said the map is built on the statute and on clarifications issued by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, including a letter SCAG received June 25 that changed how planned transit projects qualify for the map.

Under the new HCD guidance, a planned project no longer needs full environmental clearance to be mapped. It only needs a locally preferred alternative, or LPA, adopted by the relevant transit agency. Carvajal said that change is what keeps the K Line Northern Extension’s West Hollywood stations on the SB 79 map.

“We are required to map projects for the locally preferred alternative,” Carvajal said.

Metro’s Board approved the San Vicente-Fairfax alignment as the K Line Northern Extension’s LPA back in March. The approval was conditioned on West Hollywood forming what is known as an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) with the County to cover at least 25% of the project’s capital cost. Public commenters at Thursday’s meeting put that figure at roughly $2.25 billion. No EIFD has been formed.

Carvajal told the Regional Council that SCAG’s role is limited to producing the map based on the statute and HCD’s guidance. She said land use decisions remain with local jurisdictions.

“Ultimately, the land use decisions are made at the local level by jurisdictions,” Carvajal said. 

More than a dozen West Hollywood residents spoke during public comment asking SCAG to remove the City’s K Line stations from the map until the financing district exists. Kathy Fee, a West Hollywood resident and renter, said she lives within a half-mile of a potential station.

“I’m all for the subway. I think it’s great. I hope I live long enough to see it. I hope I can ride that station at Santa Monica and Fairfax,” Fee said. “I’m in that half-mile zone, and what I don’t understand is why our city council isn’t being more careful about the zoning. The majority of our city council has decided that Sacramento should plan our neighborhood. Please take us off the map, for now, until we can straighten this out. We’re gonna straighten it out. We just need to get our TODAP done.”

Councilmember Lauren Meister spoke during public comment. She identified herself as speaking for herself, not the City. She said the LPA does not guarantee the project happens. “No EIFD has been formed to date, and the LPA is not by any means a fait accompli,” Meister said. “Allowing the mapping of stops that may never happen is irresponsible.”

Kyle Brazeal, a West Hollywood resident and city council candidate, urged the Regional Council to keep the City’s K Line stations off the map. “When Metro’s board selected the San Vicente-Fairfax alignment as the locally preferred alternative, it did not do it outright,” Brazeal said. “It expressly conditioned that selection on the formation of an EIFD by the City of West Hollywood. Even if West Hollywood intends to create that, it has not yet, and cannot compel the actions of L.A. County nor the City of Los Angeles.”

Several commenters also brought up the recent controversy surrounding Councilmember Chelsea Byers’ employment with Welcoming Neighbors Network, a pro-housing advocacy organization, and the pending Fair Political Practices Commission review of whether her job creates a conflict of interest on housing votes. Multiple speakers called on Byers to recuse herself from Thursday’s vote to approve the map.

Byers used her comments to address the issue. There’s no way to know if these are the same comments she was prepared to deliver at Monday night’s council meeting, but they appear to give insight into her thinking about why she sees no need to recuse from housing and zoning votes, whether before the West Hollywood City Council or as the City’s representative to SCAG:

“Thank you, chair. Thank you, council. Just a bit more from West Hollywood today,” Byers said. “For the last 10 years, West Hollywood has championed the K Line Northern Extension, which was approved last March by Metro. While I was mayor last year, I led the City Council in voting to support SB 79. The cities of Santa Monica and Culver City, which are in my region, also voted in support of SB 79 as well. I am immensely excited about our future. We’re building in West Hollywood and across the region, and I know so many others are as well.”

“As you’ve heard today, and I’ve seen in some of the public comments, I’ve been experiencing attacks related to my ability to participate in this decision on the basis of the organization I work for, and its perceived financial interest in this decision,” Byers said. “But I just want to be absolutely clear: the basis for recusal is financial ties, and the organization I’m employed by has absolutely no financial interest in these decisions. The organization I’m employed by does not take positions on specific legislation or policy, does not make candidate endorsements or support candidates. It has no financial membership structure or relationships with any for-profit entities who would benefit from these decisions, and it has not played any role in the policy discussions before us today.”

“I’ve professionally worked for many organizations that align with my values, as I’m sure many people elected to public office have done,” Byers said. “And what’s more, I’ve been someone who’s been impacted directly by housing affordability and have voiced support for these issues over my two decades of leadership. These attacks are not shocking, given my clarity on my values, my commitment to expressing my values, and the age of politics we are living in. But I’m here, and I’m exercising my right to vote today on behalf of my region, and I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this process as I was elected to do so. Thank you for the time.”

Byers’ comments came hours after WEHOonline reported Thursday morning that her LinkedIn profile had been altered following the City Council’s vote to table a related housing item pending FPPC guidance. The profile’s description of her role at Welcoming Neighbors Network had been scrubbed. Her title had also changed. WEHOonline does not know her rationale for the change and there may very well be a valid reason for the move. However, one attorney in an email to WEHOonline said the change more likely reflected panic than any deliberate attempt to mislead, but called it “poor judgment” at minimum, adding that “at its worst it represents an attempt to interfere with an official investigation by withholding or tampering with evidence.”