The Public Process
County Review Process
The Los Angeles County-led environmental review process began in February 2022.
The County completed a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed La Brea Tar Pits Master Plan Project in September 2023. The EIR provides an assessment of the project’s probable environmental effects pursuant to State of California requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Draft EIR is available for download here and is also available at the Museum’s ticket desk.
The public is invited to learn more about the proposed plan and Draft EIR, ask questions, and provide input at a community open house:
MEETING DATE:
Saturday, September 30, 2023
TIME:
9:00 am to 11:00 am
LOCATION:
La Brea Tar Pits
5801 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90036
The “pop-up” event will take place outdoors between the Page Museum entrance and the Lake Pit
PUBLIC REVIEW PERIOD
In accordance with Section 15105 of the State CEQA Guidelines, the County has scheduled a 45-day public review period for the Draft EIR. The formal public review will start September 11, 2023, and end October 26, 2023.
Comments on the Draft EIR should be addressed to:
Leslie Negritto, Chief Operating Officer
Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County
900 Exposition Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90007
Email: lnegritto@nhm.org
Due to the time limits mandated by state law, written comments must be sent via United States Postal Service or email within 45 days, postmarked or emailed no later than 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, October 26, 2023.
Community Engagement
From the start, NHMLAC has been committed to ensuring the master planning process is open and inclusive, welcoming public participation. .A guiding principle has been to prioritize broad and diverse community outreach at every stage, from the selection of the architectural design team to the Environmental Impact Review process.
Highlights:
- March 2019 – Announced design competition for the Master Plan
- August 2019 – Held public event at El Rey Theater attended by hundreds of community members where three finalist architecture firms presented their approaches.
- August – September 2019 – Displayed models, drawings, and renderings for three finalists at La Brea Tar Pits for the public to provide input. Thousands of Angelenos gave feedback via survey.
- December 2019 – Announced the selection of Weiss Manfredi to lead Master Plan process.
- Fall 2021 – Launched campaign to inform community about the project and upcoming public review process.
- December 2021 – Held 3 public events for community members to learn about the project.
SEE PHOTOS FROM OUR COMMUNITY EVENTS
- February 2022 – Conducted extensive outreach to announce the release of Notice of Preparation and upcoming public scoping meetings.
DOWNLOAD THE NOTICE OF PREPARATION:
NOP Final - English
- March 2022 – Led two virtual public scoping meetings with live interpretation in Spanish and Korean.
Watch the County Public Scoping Meeting
As the process continues with the County of Los Angeles, we will update this section with relevant public documents and other information.