The Brief

A proposal to build housing along the north shore of Big Bear Lake is coming back to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors for consideration Tuesday, reigniting concerns that it could harm wildlife and rare plants in the area — including bald eagles who nest nearby.

If approved, the more than 62-acre Moon Camp project would include 50 lots for custom homes and a marina with 55 boat slips in the unincorporated community of Fawnskin.

Moon Camp’s design was first drafted decades ago, but since then the project has faced harsh criticism and legal challenges from environmental organizations, including Friends of Big Bear Valley, which runs a popular YouTube livestream of Jackie and Shadow's famous bald eagle nest overlooking the lake.

The proposed project site can be seen from the eagle’s nest camera less than a mile away and is a foraging habitat for its famous feathered couple, their chicks and other bald eagles in the area, according to Sandy Steers, executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Steers said Moon Camp would have a “severe detrimental impact” on the community’s plant life and wildlife, including bald eagles and San Bernardino flying squirrels.

“ We're not trying to stop development or anything like that — we're trying to protect habitats,” she told LAist. “ We want this valley and the environment to maintain its integrity.”

RCK Properties, Inc. is proposing the project, according to county documents. LAist has made attempts to reach the company for comment, but so far has been unsuccessful.

The proposed project site can be seen highlighted by a yellow line from the nest livestream.

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Friends of Big Bear Valley

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How we got here

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Moon Camp project in July 2020, according to a staff report, but it was challenged in court a month later.

Three conservation groups — Friends of Big Bear Valley, the Center for Biological Diversity and the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society — filed a lawsuit over Moon Camp, alleging that the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it approved the project’s final environmental impact report.

A judge agreed — partially — putting the project on hold.

Superior Court Judge David Cohn ruled in January 2022 that the report failed to fully account for wildfire evacuation risks and didn’t adequately mitigate the project’s effects on the ashgray Indian paintbrush or pebble plain habitat, which is a rare clay soil that’s home to alpine plants found only in Big Bear Valley.

The judge denied all other arguments by the conservation groups in the lawsuit, including a contention that the environmental impact report was inadequate because it failed to include up-to-date information on the bald eagle population around the site.

The Board of Supervisors rescinded its approvals for the project later that year, as ordered by the court.

Now, Moon Camp is back for reconsideration — with updates to the environmental report meant to address habitat and wildfire issues, according to a staff report.

The board is set to vote to certify the environmental impact report to comply with state law and adopt a tentative tract map.

But Steers said she’d really like to see the  San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust be able to purchase the land, which Friends of Big Bear Valley has been working on for the last several years.

“That would be ideal,” Steers said. “Then the developer gets their money, and nothing has to be destroyed, and the land can be protected.”

How to watch and participate in the meeting

The Moon Camp project is the last item on the agenda for the board’s meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

You’ll be able to find a video of the meeting here or here.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on the proposal, you can submit a public comment:

• Online here
• Via email to BoardMeetingComments@cob.sbcounty.gov
• Via snail mail to San Bernardino County Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, 385 N. Arrowhead Ave., 2nd Floor, San Bernardino

You can also attend the meeting in person in the Covington Chambers of the Board of Supervisors. The address is: County Government Center, 385 N. Arrowhead Ave., 1st Floor, San Bernardino.

LAX officials are considering a proposal Tuesday to increase the fees rideshare companies are charged to access the airport.

Currently, rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft generally pass a $4 to $5 airport fee along to their customers. You might see this listed as a line item on your receipt as an “LAX Airport Surcharge.”

But the Los Angeles World Airports Board of Commissioners could vote to increase that fee by as much as $2 to $8 depending on where the rideshare picks you up or drops you off.

The idea behind the proposal is to encourage the use of the long-awaited, much-delayed and over-budget Automated People Mover once it opens and decrease congestion in the central terminal area, the area of the airport that’s also known as the horseshoe.

David Reich, a deputy executive director for the city agency that manages the airport, told LAist that if the proposal is approved, LAX doesn’t plan on increasing the fee until after the Automated People Mover opens, which could be later this year.

The proposed increases

When the Automated People Mover opens, there will be new curb space for drop-off and pick-up. Known as the “ground transport center,” this new curb space will be a 4-minute trip from the terminal area via the Automated People Mover, according to Reich.

LAX-it will shut down as a rideshare and taxi lot once the train opens, Reich said.

If the proposal is approved, getting an Uber or Lyft to and from the ground transport center will come with a $6 airport fee.

Even once the Automated People Mover opens, you will still be able to get rides directly to and from the curbs along the horseshoe, but they will come with a $12 fee.

The proposed increases would also apply to taxi and limousine services, which currently operate under a slightly different fee structure than rideshare companies.

The increased fees are expected to generate as much as $100 million in the first year the Automated People Mover is usable, according to a report to the board.

Why the different fees for the different locations?

In a report to the board, Reich said the Automated People Mover represents a "significant investment” that aims to “fundamentally reshape how vehicles move through the airport.”

The idea behind having a higher fee for direct access to the curbs along the horseshoe is to encourage “use of new, high-capacity infrastructure” and preserve central terminal access for trips “that most require it.”

Uber is trying to fight the increases

Uber is trying to mobilize the public to fight the proposed fee increases.

“Raising the LAX rideshare fee from $5 to $12 at the curb would punish travelers, working families, and seniors who depend on affordable, reliable transportation,” Danielle Lam, the head of local California policy for Uber, said in a statement.

On Monday, Uber sent an email to passengers who recently used the rideshare service, urging them to write to city officials to “stop this massive fee hike.”

Lyft has not responded to a request for comment.

Ten state lawmakers who are members of the L.A. County delegation sent a letter on Monday to the board expressing their “strong opposition” to the proposed increases.

“Many Angelenos rely on a mix of options, including rideshare services and friends or family dropping off loved ones,” the legislators wrote in the letter. “Managing congestion cannot realistically rely on steep fee increases for certain transportation options.”

Eight of the 10 legislators who signed the letter have received campaign contributions from Uber or Lyft, according to an LAist analysis of state campaign contribution data.

Other ways to access the airport

Now is probably a good time to remind folks that there are other ways to get to the airport that don’t involve rideshares, taxis or even lifts from families and friends.

The FlyAway bus offers regularly scheduled rides from the airport to Union Station in downtown L.A. and Van Nuys. You can see the schedules here. 

Last year, the countywide transportation agency unveiled the LAX/Metro Transit center, which is accessible from the C and K rail lines and several bus routes. For now, an LAX shuttle is bringing travelers from the station to the airport. It will be one of the stops on the Automated People Mover once it opens.

The Newport Beach City Council is considering demolishing part of its quirky, beloved sculpture garden in Civic Center Park to make way for a new police station.

The city has been trying to figure out how to replace its aging police headquarters for years. It bought a property in 2022 with that intent. But an ad hoc City Council committee decided, controversially, it might be better to instead build a new station on the parkland next to city hall.

What’s so great about the sculpture garden?

The sculpture garden is a “museum without walls” treasured by art and nature lovers alike. It houses the quirky and once-controversial “Bunnyhenge,” included on the popular Atlas Obscura travel guide. Opponents of putting a new police headquarters on park grounds say it would compromise the environment, and decimate the sculpture garden.

What do supporters of the new station idea say?

Supporters say the current police station, built in 1973, is long overdue for an upgrade, and that the police force needs more space for things like servers to store digital evidence. The council ad hoc committee that studied the issue says the Civic Center parkland makes the most sense for a new building because the city already owns the land, and it would consolidate the city’s main services in one place.

Is it a done deal?

Far from it. The City Council is holding a study session Tuesday to present the plan publicly and gather input. If the council decides to go forward, the next step would be to hire a consultant to design the building and get started on an environmental impact report.

Here’s how to learn more and weigh in:

A new exhibit in L.A. — Vehicles of Expression: The Craft of the Skateboard — arrives this weekend, highlighting the cultural impact, history and artistry of handmade skateboards.

It’s the latest exhibit at Craft in America Center, a museum and library that highlights handcrafted artwork.

Todd Huber, skateboard historian and founder of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, said before 1962, it wasn’t possible to buy a skateboard in a store.

“Skateboarding started as a craft,” Huber said on AirTalk, LAst 89.3’s daily news program. “Somewhere in the 50s until 1962, if you wanted to sidewalk surf, as they called it, you had to make your own out of roller skates.”

What to expect

Emily Zaiden, the director and lead curator of the Craft in America Center based in Los Angeles, told LAist’s AirTalk the exhibit was tricky to curate.

“What we wanted to do was focus on both the history and then expand into how this has been an object that people have interpreted in so many different ways since the very beginning,” Zaiden said.

Artists who craft skateboards not only think of design, but also of the features that give riders the ability to do tricks, such as wheelies and kickflips.

“The ways that people have constructed boards, engineered boards, design boards … people are really renegade, which I think is really the spirit of skateboarding overall,” Zaiden said. “This very independent, out-of-the-box approach and making boards that allow them to do all kinds of wacky tricks and do all kinds of things that no one imagined possible physically with their body, but through the object of the board.”

Know before you go

The exhibit at Craft in America Center opens to the public on Saturday. Admission is free. The museum is open from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.