PACIFIC AVENUE IS YOUR CONCERN
We feel the size and scope of this proposed 94,579 square foot development would further degrade our community and what makes Mar Vista special
Pacific Avenue and the surrounding community has endured more large scale projects than any other area of Mar Vista over the last 25 years. While the benefits of these projects are shared by all in Mar Vista, the burden and long term impacts are being carried by this specific area’s residents and local businesses
Projects on and near Pacific Avenue Over the Years Include the Following
- The Post Office relocation included a change to a 24x7 Distribution Center operation with all employee, postal, delivery and semi-trucks entering and exiting Pacific Avenue. This new building replaced an existing grocery market and single story warehouse with a 3 story concrete building extended to the lot line on all 4 sides
- Builders FirstSource Lumber is serviced from Pacific Avenue by semi-trucks for all their inventory
- The Mar Vista Farmers’ Market closes Pacific Avenue every Sunday, impacting traffic and parking on the surrounding streets and north of Venice Avenue
- Fire Station 62 is located at the terminus of Pacific Avenue north and represents another large project impacting the area that is Pacific Avenue
- A new 6-story very low-income apartment building on the same block off Grandview less than 1,500 feet from this proposed 6-story building on Pacific Avenue just completed construction
- A proposed 2 story self-storage facility to replace and displace the 1 story warehouse used by local Mar Vista artists as workspace, to be built within 250 feet of this project
PACIFIC AVENUE CARRIES THE BURDEN
TRAFFIC ISSUES
Traffic: Pacific Avenue is at or past a breaking point as to what this road can safely sustain. Semi-trucks making deliveries 24x7 to the post office for USPS and non-USPS packages. Semi-truck deliveries to the lumber yard via Pacific Avenue. USPS mail vehicles exiting and entering all day. Traffic from residential, two elementary schools, a daycare center and rush hour cut-through traffic. Grandview Elementary, around the corner, has school buses stacked on Grandview Avenue during the school year. Local businesses depend on area streets for customer parking as most do not have dedicated parking
No residential side street this size in Mar Vista sees this amount of heavy semi-truck, business, visitor and cut-through car traffic on a daily basis, none
PARKING ISSUES
Parking: The inventory of off-street parking for the area residents and business would be pushed to non-existence from such an over sized development. Local businesses may see fewer customers and hear of more frustration in being able to visit the area. The Sunday farmers' market, visitors to the area, they will push more vehicle traffic looking for parking north of Venice Blvd.
Permit Parking: The Mar Vista Community Council voted in support of this over sized development, provided the developer procures a preferential permit parking zone
Permit parking presents its own challenges and does not solve the real issues with a 6-story, 74 unit, 94,579 square feet of over sized development on a small, already impacted, residential side street
SUPER SIZING & PRIVACY ISSUES
Street Visage: The shadow from this 67 foot, 6-story double-lot over sized development would dramatically change the amount of sunlight available to the residents and visitors in the area. The building envelope pushes to the edges of the double lot lines. The first story has no apartments and is mostly used for parking cars. Then, 5 additional stories for apartments
Privacy Concerns: The looming nature of this building in an area with single and 2-story apartment buildings, a daycare center, 2 elementary schools, is disconcerting. Our living spaces, backyards and playgrounds will be made uncomfortable from the vantage point provided by this building
Single family residences, 2 story apartments, this is what the neighborhood can and does reasonably support
SIGNIFICANT SHADOWS
Many of the area business and residents will be in the shadows hours earlier and later than they currently experience. Solar panels? Reduced efficiency because of the 2 extra floors. Construction dust? The prevailing winds will take dust into the residential areas. Privacy? We have issues with such a tall building looming over a children's daycare playground and looking down into the backyards of our residences and down into our windows
Our neighborhood deserves better. Pacific Avenue has already accommodated and absorbed a significant amount of large scale urbanization
IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?
Scale Appropriately
The benefits touted by such a large-scale over sized development can be achieved in part or whole by scaling the project to a level consistent with what the local community can absorb
Put parking underground and not at street level, remove 1 story of units and this brings the project down to a 4 story development consistent with the current zoning laws for this property. This would reduce the building size by 33% but only remove less than 20% of the housing being proposed
Low Income Housing
Very low income housing: Nothing prevents this project or developer from providing very low income housing units in an appropriately scaled building
Use the ground floor for housing, not parking. That alone reduces the project by 1 floor
Available Housing
Available housing: Any properly scaled housing project would increase the amount of available housing to all who would desire to live in the Mar Vista community
Maintain Zoning Standards
Current zoning laws allow up to 4 stories at 12124 Pacific Avenue. The developer is asking the city for multiple exemptions to add an addition 2 stories above the zoning limit
Put parking underground and not at street level, remove 1 story of units and this brings the project down to a 4 story development and removes the request for an exemption
Understand Our Concerns
- Our concern is with the request for zoning exemptions for an additional 2 stories above zoning limits, with 1 story consisting of mostly parking spaces, not residential units
- Our concern is with the zoning exemptions to push the building out to the lot lines
- Our concern is with the many projects, past and present, seeking and receiving zoning exemptions concentrated in a small residential area of Mar Vista
- Our concern is for our community when Station 62 LAFD response times are impacted by removing Pacific Avenue as their alternate route when Venice Blvd. traffic is congested
- Our concern is with a design that has all the tenants and visitors exiting and entering from yet another large project onto1 block of Pacific Avenue in competition with the Post Office, Fire Department, Farmers’ Market, Lumber Yard, Daycare Center, Church attendees, area residents and businesses, Wildwood and Grandview Elementary schools
- Our concern is with privacy issues from an oversized building looking into a daycare playground in the vicinity, backyards and into our residences
- Our concern is with the health and safety of residents who will receive less sunlight and be subjected to a significant dust and dirt from years of construction
HOW CAN I SUPPORT PACIFIC AVENUE?
Share Our Concerns
Pacific Avenue has absorbed and accommodated more than its share of large-scale projects being built in the Mar Vista Community. This is one project. But we all should share Pacific Avenue’s concerns that all these large-scale projects, past, present and future, represent a slow degradation to what we residents of Mar Vista value as a community as a whole
We Will Share Your Concerns
Pacific Avenue will stand with you when the next project, as burdensome as this is, as poorly located in your neighborhood as this is, because we would know and feel your concerns
Contact your representatives - CLICK FOR INFORMATION
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Councilwoman Traci Park represents Mar Vista as part of Council District 11
Los Angeles City Planning
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Case Number(s): CPC-2022-8256-CU-DB-PHP-HCA
Esther Ahn, City Planner
(213) 978-1486
200 North Spring Street, Room 763
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Mar Vista Community Council
Los Angeles City Council District 11
Mar Vista Community Council
The Mar Vista Community Council voted at the January 25, 2023 meeting in support of the Department of City Planning's development at 12124 W. Pacific Avenue, subject to the developer procuring a preferential parking zone for the neighbors on Keeshen Drive