At long last the City of L.A. is taking another big step in the effort to end the court injunction against supporting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) within the city limits.
FixNation supporters may recall that the City held a big public hearing back in October 2019 in Highland Park to kick off the effort to prepare the final document to complete the court- and state law-required Environmental Impact Report on the Citywide Cat Program, the proposal put together by the Department of Animal Services to reintroduce TNR to its arsenal of tools to deal with pet overpopulation.
Since then, the City and its EIR consulting team has been working hard to respond to the public comments gathered at that hearing as well as the hundreds submitted in writing. The project coordinator for the City has said there were more comments on the Cat Program Draft EIR than on any other EIR she’s ever worked on. That’s a major reason why it’s taken this long to wrap up the drafting of the Final EIR, which encompasses responses to all the comments.
As of this writing, the Final EIR (the Draft EIR plus the response document) is expected to be released to the public (primarily on-line) early in September 2020. Another public meeting is contemplated for later in September where people will be able to ask questions about the document. Then the Board of Animal Services Commissioners will hold a hearing in October.
If the Board approves the document, it will be sent to the City Council’s Personnel and Animal Welfare (PAW) Committee, which will hold a hearing as well. The last stop is the full City Council, hopefully before the Council breaks for the holidays. At this point, all of these hearings will be virtual due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
If the City Council certifies the EIR as required by the California Environmental Quality Act, the City can then go back to the Superior Court and argue that it has fulfilled its legal obligation. Court approval will be required before the City can begin supporting TNR again.
Stay tuned for updates and more specifics on how to be involved with this important process.
