Council Votes to Call South Lake Project up For Review

A South Lake Avenue building project that received a court-ordered appeals hearing was unanimously called up for review by the City Council on Monday.

Last month, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) voted to overturn a zoning administrator’s determination on a 87-unit mixed-use project on South Lake Avenue after the zoning administrator ruled that concessions could only be used for development standards, like building height.

District 2 Councilmember Felicia Williams called up the item for consideration by the City Council.

According to a statement by the local attorney Richard McDonald, who represents DC Properties, which is building the project, he was not surprised by the move to call the project up for review.

“We are not surprised the anti-affordable housing crowd is opposed to the project and our rights under state law,” McDonald said.

According to McDonald over the past three years various neighborhood associations, including but not limited to, Pasadena Heritage, the Madison Heights Neighborhood Association, the West Pasadena Residents Association, and others, have objected to density bonus projects and development throughout the City as a matter of principle in direct opposition to the SDBL.

“But, the law is what it is and no amount of legal sophistry by the City will change that,” McDonald said in a statement to the council on Monday. “Regardless of whether you call the interior square footage ratio a use restriction or a development standard, state law allows the applicant to get a concession from it and preempts any local opinions to the contrary … That the City purposely ignores that legal reality is simply more evidence of its willingness to violate the SDBL, Housing Accountability Act, and act in bad-faith.”

The project would include seven very-low-income units, and 10,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor at 141 S. Lake Ave.

The city refused to process an affordable housing concession permit on the grounds that housing cannot occupy more than 50% of the total floor area of the building on South Lake Avenue.

Under terms of that plan, the developer applied for one concession under state law that grants bonuses if developers add more than the required number of lower-income housing units.

DC Properties attempted to use a concession for an exemption to the housing rule.

In April, Pasadena Now reported that a Superior Court judge ruled the city must allow DC Properties to appeal the ruling.

According to the judge, the city’s refusal to hear an appeal did not comply with the city’s municipal code, which states, “an appeal can be filed by any person affected by a determination, decision, action rendered by the Director, Hearing Officer, Board of Zoning Appeals, Environmental Administration, Design Commission, Arts and Culture Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, Advisory Agency or Commission.”