Community Corner

Historic Preservation Board to Consider Transit Village Tonight

The local board's approval could weigh heavily on the planning commission's final decision.

Is the Highland Park Transit Village--a mixed used housing development slated to be built on three lots between North Figueroa Street and Marmion Way--compatible with the neighborhood's historic character? That's the question the Highland Park-Garvanza Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) Board will consider on Tuesday, March 12 at 6 p.m. in the Arroyo Seco Library during their bi-monthly meeting.

Adopted in 1994 and then expanded to included Garvanza in 2010, the Highland Park-Garvana Historic Preservation Overlay Zone was enacted to preserve the neighborhood's historic structures and to foster development that conformed to that historic nature.

Though the HPOZ board does not have the last word when it comes to the construction of new buildings in Highland Park, the board's recommendations must be considered by the area's planning commission when the final determination is made.

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After a signficant community pushback, developer McCormack, Baron, Salazar entered a joint development agreement with the city of Los Angeles in 2011 to begin the permitting process for a scaled back version of the mixed use development.

The version currently on the table comprises three residential properties to be built on three LADOT public parking lots between Avenues 56 and 59 behind North Figueroa Street.

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According to the MacCormack, Baron, Salazar, 20 of the 80 residential units would be market-rate condos. The remaining units would be designated as affordable, and be priced based on prevailing incomes in the neighborhood.

Designs suggest the properties would be influenced by the area's craftsman style, though they would be taller than any of the adjacent buildings.

Community members have offered a mixed response to the project. Though the developer has committed to replace the 221 LADOT public parking spots that would be lost through the development, community members, like Antigua Bread owner Miguez Hernandez, worried that the private parking spots provided for transit village residents would not be sufficient.

"My concern, during the construction, and after it's completed, is parking," Hernandez said. "They have three bedroom units, with one parking spot. Where's everybody else going to park? If you multiply 80 units by two cars, that's 160 parking spots being taken. So, I'm going to be losing customers."

However, supporters of the plan have welcomed the potential increase in affordable housing stock.

Gigi Szabo, an Avenue 57 resident, was one of the attendees of January public meeting who spoke out in favor of the project, lauding it for bringing in affordable housing and making use of LADOT parking lots she considered a "waste of space."


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