Controversial Project To Come Back Before Design Commission

The Design Commission will look at three projects at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, including a controversial development that nearly led to a lawsuit between the city and a developer.

The six-story project at 253 S. Los Robles Ave. with 90-units of multi-family residential building and two levels of underground parking for 125 cars was rejected last July after hours of discussion, but came back after the council exercised a little-used “motion to review” to take a second look at the project.

According to a staff report, city staff is recommending that the Design Commission find that there are no changed circumstances or new information that would require further environmental review and approve the application for concept design review subject to conditions, which will be further reviewed during the final design review.

Neighborhood groups came out against the project when it first went before the City Council last July, including the Madison Heights Neighborhood Association, which argued that the project would bring excessive traffic and noise to the neighborhood and would exert a negative “cumulative impact” on the area. The development is the third recent one in the area.

In August the City Council voted 5-2 in favor of a “motion to renew,” effectively giving the developer Zhuang & Zhong Los Robles LLC another chance to get an affordable housing concession permit.

In January the council did not have a quorum to vote on the project. The council later approved the project.

The project includes demolition of an existing 43,544 square-foot office building on site.

In a Jan. 11th, email to Pasadena Now, a lawyer representing the developer, Zhuang & Zhong, LLC, said he’s prepared to follow through on a lawsuit if the Council does not approve the project.

“We have done our best to address the City Council’s concerns and hope they agree,” said attorney Richard McDonald at the time. “If not then we have no choice but to proceed with our lawsuit for the reasons stated previously.”

McDonald’s contention was that the project complies with state law and “state law is a mandate.”

Staff is also recommending commission advance projects at 101 S. Marengo, formerly owned by Bank of America and another project at 135 S. Catalina Ave.  The Catalina Ave. project calls for the demolition of an existing surface parking lot, and the development of a 75-unit residential project to be built over a shared subterranean parking structure. The parking structure would provide 345 parking spaces for both the housing and existing medical service use.

The meeting can be viewed at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83019619285