City Council Votes in Favor of Green Street Project

The City Council on Monday voted 5-1 with two members abstaining to deny an appeal and approve the application for concept design review for a project to be built at 740-790 E. Green Street.

“We’re looking at a project that has been downsized significantly, is essentially a by-right project and provides 41 affordable housing units,” said Councilmember Steve Madison. We need affordable housing in this city.”

Madison introduced the motion to support the staff recommendation and also called for some introspection on City commissions.

Madison’s motion was seconded by Jessica Rivas.

Justin Jones and Jason Lyon recused themselves and Vice Mayor Felica Williams voted against the item.

The appeal came to the City Council several times before the public hearing was successfully heard.

The project underwent environmental review by the commission which resulted in preparation of a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), which includes mitigation measures to reduce possible environmental impacts to less than significant levels. The Concept Design Review application for the project was approved last June 13.

The commission found that the project is consistent with the City’s General Plan and Housing Element for the district.

But members of the public opposed the project.

“There have been many important changes to this project that have significantly improved it,” wrote Megan Foker of Livable Pasadena. “Additionally, we support the much-needed affordable housing that will be provided once the project is completed. Yet however beneficial and well designed a project is, we must still have a full understanding of the environmental impact it will have.”

Livable Pasadena called for a full and open discussion of all the potential environmental impacts that have been raised by residents.

“City Staff relies on the Design Commission to have reviewed the many serious issues at play here and to have responded to public concern,” the group said in a correspondence to the City Council “Yet, at that hearing, the potential impacts were discussed only for a few minutes and minimal questions were asked.”

According to Livable Pasadena, the Commission merely noted that the traffic impacts had been sufficiently mitigated by a change in use to a part of the project [from commercial to office space], that a report had been prepared finding no other problems, and then the discussion moved on to design particulars.

According to an agenda staff report, design review is a three-phase process that includes preliminary preview, concept and then final design review.

Each phase builds upon the other as the applicant must respond to comments provided during the previous phase of review. Preliminary design review is informational only.

Concept design reviews require a public hearing, certification of the CEQA document and if approved, grants the entitlement.

Final design review focuses on items such as colors, materials, and final details.

As part of the design review conducted, and the Design Commission reviewed the project as it relates to a number of design guidelines/policies that are contained in the Land Use Element of the General Plan and the Private Realm Design Guidelines of the Central District Specific Plan.

The Design Commission reviewed and unanimously approved the application and CEQA document, 6-0 with one member absent and two abstaining on June 13 at a noticed public hearing.

The proposed two detached buildings containing three to five stories will include 14,346 square feet of office space, 263 residential units, 416 parking spaces and 4,033 square foot pocket park.

In a letter to the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce expressed support for the project.

“The Board of Directors of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and Civic Association fully supports the development of the mixed-use project at 770 E. Green Street,” said Chamber President Paul Little. “The project will activate an underused portion of Green Street and provide more than 200 housing units, with affordable housing on-site, which is much needed in Pasadena.”