Details to Be Aired Monday for 5-Story Residential Care Facility Planned for Church Parking Lot

The Pasadena City Council will receive a predevelopment plan review on a five-story 117,326 square-foot, 141-unit, five-story residential care facility at 80 S. Oakland Ave., on the existing surface parking lot of the First Church of Christ, Scientist.

“The facility will provide a continuum of care for seniors and will provide independent and assisted living, including memory care,” according to a city staff report.

The project includes a two-level subterranean parking garage for use by employees, visitors, residents, and members of the church, according to the staff report.

The Church’s two-story 7,288 square-foot reading room building, and a surface parking lot. The surface parking lot will be demolished to accommodate the proposed project.

The report showed Belmont Village Senior Living LP as the applicant. Belmont Village has a number of housing projects for seniors throughout California and the U.S. supporting over 4,000 residents. The company has partnerships with established hospitality and care providers where their projects are located.

The city requires a PPR for projects involving new construction of more than 25,000 square feet of nonresidential gross floor area.

“The purpose of the PPR is to achieve better projects through early consultation between city staff and applicants,” according to the staff report. The intent is to coordinate the review of projects among city staff and city departments, familiarize applicants with regulations and procedures that apply to the project, and avoid significant investment in the design of a project without preliminary input from city staff. In addition, the purpose is to identify issues that may arise during review of the project, provide opportunities for discussion about the project and an exchange of information on potential issues between the city staff and applicants, and inform the City Council and the public of proposed development projects defined in the administrative guidelines to be of communitywide significance.”

A project is categorized as a project of communitywide significance if it consists of more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area with one discretionary action or 50 or more housing units or any project determined by the Planning Director to be of major importance to the City. Projects of communitywide significance are presented to the City Council for informational purposes. The proposed project involves the construction of a 117,326 square-foot nonresidential building and qualifies as a project of communitywide significance. This is a public, semi-public land use and not a residential land use.