The Land Use Committee of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council to discuss two key issues surrounding real estate development along Colorado Boulevard.
The Land Use Committee of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council is scheduled to meet Thursday to take up two important proposals regarding the development of real estate along the commercial corridor of Colorado Boulevard.
The committee will meet from 7 p.m. to around 9 p.m. in the Arthur K. Snyder Community Room on the second floor of Eagle Rock City. Eagle Rock residents and stakeholders who care about land use issues in the neighborhood are strongly encouraged to attend.
Here is a detailed communiqué that the ERNC sent out in a recent newsletter, summing up the background of the two land use proposals it will discuss and possibly take action on:
1. 1351 Colorado Boulevard Update:
At June's Land Use meeting, representatives of Specialized Realty told the Committee that they want to convert the shell of the old building at 1351-33 Colorado Boulevard into a mini-mall of 3 retail spaces—a use prohibited by the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan (CBSP). Locally, Specialized Realty also manages the mini-mall on Colorado Boulevard that contains Yogurt Haven, La Fuente, and Super Copy (see photo).
An Exception to the CBSP could allow a mini-mall to be installed at 1351 Colorado—but only after a public hearing downtown, and ERNC meetings at which Eagle Rock residents could express their opinions about whether they wanted a new mini-mall in town. However, Specialized Realty is also considering a Director's Interpretation to get around the Specific Plan's ban on mini-malls: A Director's Interpretation is an internal decision at the L.A. Department of City Planning that does not require any public meetings. (While there would be a 15-day appeal period, Director's Interpretations are not publicly announced, as far as we know.)
At the July 2 full Board meeting of the ERNC, there was an agenda item to vote whether to send a letter to the Department of City Planning, asking that Specialized Realty be required to apply for an Exception to the CBSP, rather than be granted a Director's Interpretation. Representatives of Specialized Realty appeared at the meeting, to provide more information to the Board to help them make their decision.
Here is some of the information they provided:
• Specialized Realty said they purchased 1351-33 Colorado intending to develop it into a three-unit mini-mall, rather than a single-tenant store, restaurant, cafe, professional building, or mixed-use retail and housing, all of which are uses allowed by the CBSP. Specialized Realty knew they would have to apply for a CBSP Exception for the mini-mall use.
• Specialized Realty said that a Director's Interpretation was not their idea, but rather was suggested to them by the Department of City Planning, with the rationale that the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan's ban on mini-malls was intended only to apply to new construction, not renovations. (The Specific Plan makes no such distinction—see below for a link to the text of the CBSP.)
• Construction has already begun at 1351-33 Colorado. To get the building permits to build the mini-mall spaces, Specialized Realty is telling the L.A. Department of Building and Safety that 1351-33 Colorado will be used as 1 retail space and 2 offices, which are uses allowed by the Specific Plan.
• Specialized Realty told the ERNC Board they would not voluntarily ask the Planning Department to forgo a Director's Interpretation at this time.
At the end of the agenda item, the ERNC Board voted to approve sending a letter to the Department of City Planning, requesting that the owners of 1351-33 Colorado be required to go through the public Exception process, so that the will of the residents of Eagle Rock would be considered, as originally intended by the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan.
We've got drawings and plans for the proposed development in our 1351 Colorado Google Drive folder.
For those unfamiliar with it, the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan (pdf link) is an extension of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, specific to Eagle Rock's main commercial corridor. It was written by Eagle Rock neighborhood advocates, and approved by the City of Los Angeles, in 1992 to lay out a vision for the future of Eagle Rock, specifying certain kinds of aesthetic requirements for landscaping and signage, and prohibiting certain kinds of businesses —like automobile repair shops, fast food drive-thrus, and mini-malls—unless an Exception is granted. The ERNC has been discussing the Specific Plan at its meetings, and in the future we'll have events where community input on the Plan is welcomed.
Related: What’s Your Interpretation—Does Colorado Boulevard Need Another Mini-Mall?
2. More Units in the Big Orange Building (aka Colorado Terrace, 2455 Colorado Blvd.):
The main agenda item this month was postponed from June: It's a request from Colorado Terrace, the senior housing complex on the western edge of Eagle Rock, to add nine more housing units to its current 77, for a total of 86. This will be done by subdividing existing two- and three-bedroom units, as well as turning unused storage spaces into living spaces. The new units would all be one-bedroom and smaller "efficiency" units.
(Note that Colorado Terrace is planning a "Phase 2" expansion next door to the current complex, but that is not on the agenda for this meeting.)
Adding more units this way would not increase the size of the building in any way, but it would increase its occupancy, and therefore its density. When Colorado Terrace was originally built, the complex received a 35% "density bonus" from the City of LA and State of California, due to several factors: because it was designed as housing for seniors; because at least 20% of its units would be for low-income residents; because the low-income units would be the same size and capacity as the "regular" units; and because the retail spaces below the living spaces would make all the units more affordable. These and other conditions of the density bonus were laid out in a "covenant" signed with the City of Los Angeles, that is not publicly available—we're working on getting a copy of it.
The Density Bonus originally allowed the owners of Colorado Terrace to build 35% more units than they would have normally been allowed to (or, "By Right"). They could build 57 units By Right, but with the bonus, were allowed to build the current 77 units. The nine extra units being requested now are not a result of any bonus or other special condition—which is why Colorado Terrace has to ask permission from the City of LA to do it, and why the ERNC gets to weigh in on whether this further exception to the City's density rules should be granted or not.
Some issues we'll ask about at the meeting:
• Whether the nine new units, which include "efficiency" units, meet the original terms of the building's covenant with the city, which declares that low-income units be the same quality and size as standard units.
• Why the building's storage areas that they intend to convert to living space are unused, as stated in the application.
• Whether adding 9 new units meets the requirements for outdoor space laid out in the building's original agreement with the City.
• The status of the building's retail spaces, which are unoccupied.
Here are some documents associated with the development:
• The current application to add 9 more units.
• The original City of LA determination letter granting the density bonus in 2000.
• The 2009 City of LA determination that allowed an addition of 7 units, due to a miscalculation in 2000.
• The State of CA code that allows for density bonuses like the one used by Colorado Terrace.
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