Dear Windsor Square Residents and Friends,
Thank you for your emails of the past two weeks on 507 N. Larchmont. Over 100 neighbors attended the GWNC Land Use Committee (LUC) meeting last Tuesday night. Over 260 letters in opposition to the project were received. Two letters were in favor.
The LUC voted to strongly support affordable housing on Upper Larchmont, but to oppose this 52 studio apartment project at 507 N. Larchmont. The LUC raised these concerns: (a) the 7-story project is dramatically out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood and not permitted by code or bonus; (b) the project provides no parking yet doesn’t meet the one-half mile access to a mass transit stop that is required for zero parking; and (c) the project isn’t even a 100% affordable housing project eligible to claim benefits and fast-tracking under the Mayor’s ED1 directive. Instead, it appears ready to convert its 13 choice spaces, now labeled free-standing “rec rooms” facing Larchmont into market-rate ADUs. We are told that this conversion is an open secret in City Hall.
Despite the overwhelming local sentiment, this project is being rushed through City Hall for approval without your input. It could be approved in a matter of days. Please click below to have your voice heard by City Hall. Clicking on the button will send your support of affordable housing and your opposition to the 507 N. Larchmont Boulevard project to Mayor Karen Bass, Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, and City Planner Ricardo Vazquez. The full text of the email that you will send is included below.
You can also send your own emails:
karen.bass@lacity.org and kevin.keller@lacity.org (for the Mayor)
emma.howard@lacity.org and ted.walker@lacity.org (for the Councilmember)
ricardo.vazquez@lacity.org and jane.choi@lacity.org (for City Planning)
EMAIL TO MAYOR BASS, COUNCILMAN SOTO-MARTINEZ AND PLANNER VASQUEZ
Subject: Our Community Needs Your Help / Halt the Approval of ED1 Project at 507 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Dear Mayor Bass, Councilman Soto-Martinez, and Planner Vazquez,
I am a resident of Windsor Square, where the Mayor lives. The Mayor is my neighbor, as is the proposed project at 507 N. Larchmont Boulevard. I ask that you help us preserve our community by halting any approval of this misguided and deceptive ED1 project.
I support the creation of much more affordable housing throughout Los Angeles, including on Larchmont Boulevard. I also believe that we are able to develop affordable housing that protects the character and scale of an existing stable, thriving neighborhood and that preserves the quality of life on adjacent streets. This project fails this community test. The project also fails under the law:
- It is for 7-stories when the maximum benefits for 100% affordable housing might allow 6-stories;
- It provides zero parking yet doesn’t meet the one-half mile access to a mass transit stop that is required for zero parking; and
- It isn’t even a 100% affordable housing project eligible to claim benefits and fast-tracking under the Mayor’s ED1 directive — instead, it appears openly ready to convert the 13 choice spaces overlooking Larchmont into market-rate ADUs, which would violate ED1.
I ask that you use all the powers at your command: emergency orders, executive directives, accurate project analysis, and the power of your positions to ensure that the Department of City Planning halts any approval or permitting of 507 N. Larchmont until the neighborhood concerns and complaints are heard and addressed in a satisfactory way.
I don’t believe you intend for a project like 507 to cynically exploit the beneficial intent of ED1 by masquerading as affordable housing at the expense of the current residents of our unique historic, and admired live / work / walk / shop / play community, which every resident has worked so hard to maintain.
Please halt 507. Please meet with actual neighbors immediately affected by 507 and embrace the community’s extensive affordable housing vision and plans. Please also include my email in the project’s file.
Thank you.