Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils · Held

Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils meeting, August 13, 2026

August 13, 2026, 6:30 p.m. · Updated October 2, 2026

From official records: The Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils' Zoom agenda for Aug. 13, 2026, centered on a discussion of wildfire evacuation routes, emergency access and traffic for new Valley housing projects, with invited City planning, fire and emergency management officials. It also listed a Council motion to study handing some City animal shelters to contractors (CF 26-0582) and a proposed CERT training requirement for neighborhood council boards (CF 26-0906-S4). The agenda lists no motions or votes, and VANC's site posts agendas but no minutes; a Zoom recording is linked on the LANCC alliances page.

As of October 2, 2026, outcomes for the August 13, 2026 meeting of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils come from official records posted so far, such as council files, recorded votes and filed statements. Some results may be missing until the full minutes are posted and read.

4. Evacuation routes and density

• What it is: An agenda item listing questions about evacuation routes under AB 747, emergency vehicle access and road capacity for new projects, quoting the Budget Advocates’ 2025 white paper that the Fire Department has the same number of stations as 30 years ago. The agenda header cites a 314-home Chatsworth Deer Lake Ranch project (agenda).
• Speakers listed: Community advocates Eva Amar, Karen Chacon and Heath Kline; invited were Deputy Mayor Sue Stengel, City Planning’s Kevin Keller, Battalion Chief Brian Petty and Emergency Management General Manager Carol Parks (agenda).

8. Outreach insurance and the CERT proposal

• What it is: The agenda asks why the CAO requires neighborhood councils to buy insurance for outreach events on Recreation and Parks land, and links the Council motion asking for a report on requiring CERT certification for a majority of neighborhood council board members, which the agenda describes as “Required CERT training for most of NC board” (agenda; motion).
• What happened at the Council: On Aug. 19 the Council adopted the item as amended by Motion 15A, which replaced the requirement with a report on making CERT certification more accessible; vote 13-0 (amending motion; Council action).

9. Animal shelters and contractors

• What it does: A motion by Bob Blumenfield and Monica Rodriguez, seconded by Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, asks Animal Services, the CAO and the CLA to report on the feasibility of a Request for Information seeking a contractor to run one or more City shelters, as at the Northeast Valley Animal Care Center, and on moving City staff to the remaining shelters without job losses (motion; committee report).
• Neighborhood council positions: None filed as of the Aug. 11 committee report (committee report).
• Background in the motion: Animal Services runs six shelters and handles about 60,000 animals a year. The Council approved a contract with Best Friends Animal Society to operate the Northeast Valley center on Aug. 16, 2011, and Paws for Life K9 Rescue has operated it since that contract ended (motion).
• What happened: The Council adopted the committee report on Aug. 21, 2026, 12-0, with Hernandez, Lee and Soto-Martinez absent (Council action).

The agenda lists the next VANC meeting, on Zoom, for Sept. 10, 2026 (agenda).

Previous meeting: July 9, 2026 · Next meeting: September 10, 2026 · All meetings