Planning Commission Calls for North Lake “Transformation”; Votes Down Porsche Dealership Design

During a three-and-a-half-hour meeting of the Planning Commission on Wednesday, the panel called for a bolder vision for North Lake Avenue and denied approval for a proposed new Porsche dealership facility at Colorado and Sunnyslope in East Pasadena.

No votes were taken during a workshop on the public realm element of the draft North Lake Specific Plan. Yet public speakers and Commissioners agreed that the City had failed to enact commitments made in the previous 1997 and 2007 plans for North Lake. 

Annette Yasin, President of the adjacent Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association described the street as a “dangerous eyesore.” She complained that previous projects for enhancing North Lake had been “piecemeal, very costly and at times not considerate to the residential impact.”

Yasin called on the City to make “North Lake Avenue visually attractive, safe and environmentally sound and inviting, which in turn will attract investment in business and mixed-use projects.” 

Tina Miller, another Bungalow Heaven neighbor, called for “finding space in that sea of concrete to add more greenery and trees.” 

Andrew Salimian of Pasadena Heritage said, “I know we are planning for a lot of change, but until the City steps up, that change isn’t going to happen.” 

Other speakers from surrounding neighborhoods called for protected bike lanes, banning future drive-thru uses, and greater collaboration between City departments to work on revitalizing the corridor.

Commissioner Juliana Delgado led the discussion among her colleagues, saying “we’ve been updating specific plans, spending an enormous amount of volunteer, staff and consultant time to be consistent with the 2015 citywide General Plan. That plan took nine years to develop and we thought very long and hard about North Lake should be. It’s very clear in the General Plan that the vision is to ‘transform its automobile-oriented character into a well-designed and attractive corridor supporting multiple travel modes.’ It’s very simple – get away from putting the emphasis on cars.”

Commissioner Rick Cole, who will take office in December as Councilmember from District 2, asserted that “changing North Lake will require the level of interdepartmental commitment and funding to actually bring it about it. When the City government gets behind something for many years as it did in Old Pasadena, you can see the change. When City government only pays lip service, as it has so many times in Northwest Pasadena, you don’t see much change.”

Planning staff pledged to incorporate the spirit of the call for an enhanced public realm and to work with a subcommittee of four Commissioners appointed by Chair Mic Hansen to assist in charting a transformative approach.

The Commission then turned to a troubled project that has endured two years of criticism from the Planning and Design Commission, historic preservationists and local neighbors. A proposal for a new Rusnak Porsche dealership facility had run into a buzzsaw of opposition over demolishing an historic factory building on the site, imposing generic architecture out of character with Pasadena and failing to conform with the City’s vision and rules for East Colorado Boulevard.

In response to the criticism, the applicant took several months to revise the project. The new approach preserves the historic 1929 building as a future clubhouse for Porsche owners and added a trellis sculpture along Colorado Boulevard designed by students at Art Center College of Design. 

Andrew Arizmendi, Vice President of Rusnak Automotive noted that his company, which owns several local dealerships, “invested considerable time and effort to be responsive.” He acknowledged the “frustration” of a Planning Commission subcommittee that worked with the applicant to address concerns. “At this point, however, opportunities to negotiate with Porsche have been exhausted. They absolutely will not consider further changes.”

Spokesperson Stephanie DeWolfe outlined the project’s community benefits, including potentially doubling the City’s $1 million annual sales tax revenue from the existing dealership. She touted the new public art piece as “establishing a sense of place” as well as providing a potential “multi-function gathering space for the community” in the parking lot. The project would also provide additional jobs and a commitment to provide vocational training in partnership with PCC.

Commissioner Cole said he couldn’t support the project, “not because the applicant hasn’t made a tremendous effort,” but due to numerous provisions of the applicable East Colorado Specific Plan the project conflicted with, including that “off the shelf or chain corporate architecture or generic designs are not recommended for new development along Colorado Boulevard. Each project should strive to achieve the unique theme of the corridor.” 

“At some point we have to draw the line about whether we’re serious about the ideas that are in our plans,” he declared.

Commissioner Delgado admitted she was “torn” given the commitment to preserve the historic building on the site. However, she declared, “There are so many dealerships in Pasadena that do respect the street edge,” pointing to many examples, including Rusnak’s landmark dealerships near the Norton Simon Museum on West Colorado. “The Design Commission felt this just didn’t fit into Pasadena.” 

Commissioner Lambert Giessinger explained his opposition: “The words in the plan are quite clear. This is a unique place. Our charge is to uphold the plans that are in place.” 

Commissioner Jennifer Higginbotham disagreed, saying, “I think the trellis in the front plus the historic building creates a unique campus for that facility considering even the Porsche global branding. To me it does feel unique.” 

The Commission split 5-2 to deny the application for a Conditional Use Permit. While Chair Hansen and Commissioners Cole, Delgado, Giessinger and Beverly Sims voted against it, Commissioners Carol Hunt Hernandez and Higginbotham supported the project.