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Land-use chair cancels meeting on apartment-commercial development at National and Overland Below

Assembly approves plans to build a commercial-residential complex at Palms and Motor Below

Palms to city: We want a local hearing on project to move an apartment building onto Regent Street
Below

Another big tree may be threatened as a Bentley Ave. home is slated for destruction Below

Chairman cancels meeting on Arco property development at northern entrance to Palms

The head of the Palms Development and Land-Use Committee has canceled a scheduled meeting to hear from the developer of the old Arco-Richfield property on the southeast corner of Overland and National.

The committee was to have heard from Steve Collins, the architect, on Sept. 19, but F. Danny Monempour, the chair, said Collins has been replaced as architect.

The National-Overland commercial-residential project was first brought to the attention of Palms stakeholders last January, before the local Representative Assembly was elected. The Assembly is the governing body of the Palms Neighborhood Council.

Meanwhile the Mar Vista Community Council has jumped in while the Palms Council is getting organized.

Its Urban Planning Committee has heard from the developer at the behest of activists Marie Wallace and Ken Alpern from the Westside Village homeowners' association (see the minutes, below).

OVERLAND-NATIONAL PROJECT WILL INCREASE IN SIZE
Minutes of the Urban Planning Committee
of the Mar Vista Community Council,
Aug. 4, 2005

Old Business
National /Overland Development (10612 W. National Blvd.) Presentation
Steve Collins from RSA Presenting

Aaron Sedro of Environmental Investments is the property owner
Proposing a Mixed use on National & Overland
This is an update to the project.

The project is 50% larger than before after the developers purchased the unit next door (10604 National Blvd., which is zoned as R3).

There will be 2 levels of Underground Parking, with 2 parking spaces per unit; since there will be 29 units total, 58 parking spaces will be created.  Because of the planned 3,000 commercial square footage, 12 additional spaces are required (4 spaces are required of each 1,000 square footage of commercial space).  The final planned total of 86 parking spaces is therefore in excess of what is required.

The residential units will be 1,000-1,200 square feet per unit, and would attract single individuals who were looking for lofts to live in.

Retail space use was not confirmed, but the developers were looking for small office-type businesses (such as architectural, real estate or artist offices) rather than high-impact retail businesses (such as restaurants) would exist there—the latter requires more parking. Mixed-use zoning will only allow for certain business uses.  Parking access for the retail businesses would be predominantly from National Place.

The alley will be widened from its current 10 feet currently to 20 feet, and will be the best access for residents (whose parking will be gated) to arrive from the south. We are not sure how this would be done, since existing apartments and a sidewalk are on the southeast side. The Bus Stop won’t be changed at all.

Marie Wallace asked what the price of the units would be, Aaron indicated $500K - $600K at today’s value (more for the top-floor penthouse units), and the units would not be ready for 2 years. They initially indicated that they we not looking for any variances at all, but indicated that they were looking to change the zone from C31V1 to RAS 3. Marie Wallace indicated that traffic is backed up in both directions at that intersection..

No mention of traffic improvement or mitigation plan or the impact, other than they have worked with DOT to do traffic studies but could not provide a report. It was thought that traffic impact would be improved from the old Arco station that previously existed there, in light of the high volume that previously accessed that station.

There will be four levels to the project, with a height of 50 feet, with the ground level recessed away from the street to enhance pedestrian activity.  The highest level will be similarly drawn back by 6 feet to form a terrace for the penthouses on the top floor and to decrease visual impact on the surrounding community.

Currently, C21VL has a height limitation of 45 feet, and the desired zoning change to RAS 3 (mixed-use) allows for the higher development asked for by the developers.

Members of the committee indicated that there was a lot of information and issues that were not finalized or resolved, and were not ready to support or to reject the project.
 
A Motion to therefore defer the project to the Transportation/Infrastructure Committee was made by Steve Wallace (seconded by Curt Steindler), to devote 15 minutes at the next UP/LU Committee Meeting to discuss the planning issues brought up by Sharon Cummins, Marie Wallace and others, and to contact Bill Scheding regarding transportation since most of the issues surrounding the project were traffic issues. The motion passed 10-0-0.

Assembly OKs Palms-Motor apartment-commercial building

Plans are afoot to build a large apartment complex on the northeast corner of Palms and Motor, where a Chevron gas station stood until a few months ago. The site is now vacant.

A drawing submitted by the architect, here, shows an open-air atrium in the center, with shops and restaurants on the ground floor. The parking would be underground, with entry and exit from the alley to the east. The lot is just to the north of Palms Elementary School.

The Development and Land-Use Committee of the Palms Neighborhood Council approved the plan after a public hearing on Monday evening, Aug. 15. It was also approved unanimously by the Representative Assembly of the Palms Neighborhood Council on Wednesday evening, Sept. 7.

The Sun has learned that most of the properties on the west side of Motor between Palms and Woodbine (opposite the Pacific Television Center) have been purchased by a developer who plans to tear down the old structures and build apartments or condos in their place.

Assembly to city: We want a local hearing on plan to move an apartment building onto Regent Street; president writes letter

Condominium conversion planned

A public hearing was held Wednesday, Sept. 7, in the City Hall on a plan to convert a 20-unit apartment building at 3647 Jasmine Ave. into condominiums.
There are to be 36 parking places in a gated garage.
Information: Henry Chu of City Planning at (213) 978-1381.

This house at 3754 Bentley Ave. will be torn down and a nine-unit condominium building erected in its place.

Ben Safyari at (310) 869-8440 will be representing the unnamed applicant at an environmental hearing, not yet scheduled.

Safyari said he doesn't know if the large tree on the property will be spared; he'll ask the architect.