Space Bank Planned Development Plan Scheduled for Design Commission

The Planning Commission will consider renewing a planned development on a 500-unit housing project on a site formerly used for weapons testing by the Navy.

Critics of the Space Bank project at 3200 E. Foothill Blvd. in East Pasadena claim the land beneath the site contains harmful chemicals.

Trammell Crow wants to build a 550-unit project, including eight separate residential and mixed-use buildings, subterranean and above-ground parking, landscaping, and 9,800 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

“The PD (Planned Development) Plan includes the demolition of 29 existing structures on the approximately 8.53 acre project site [currently the Space Bank mini-storage site]; and construction of eight separate residential and mixed-use buildings, subterranean and above-ground parking structures, and landscaping,” according to a city staff report. “The proposed buildings would include a total of 550 apartment units and 9,800 square feet of retail and restaurant space.”

The District 4 project was approved by the City Council in 2018.

The PD Plan became effective that year, but was scheduled to expire two years from the effective date of the ordinance, unless a building permit has been issued and construction diligently pursued to completion. 

On March 30, 2020, the City Council authorized the City Manager to suspend the time limit due to the pandemic, and allowed an automatic 24- month extension to the expiration time limits of a PD Plan. As established by the 24-month extension under the City Council resolution, the project’s expiration date was extended to August 26, 2022. 

The request would renew the plan for two additional years and move the expiration date to August 26, 2024. 

The project was opposed by Councilman Gene Masuda, who represents the area where the project site is located, and Councilmember Tyron Hampton and then Councilmember, Now Mayor, Victor Gordo.

The Trammell Crow Co. committed to testing for royal demolition explosives (RDX) and trinitrotoluene (TNT), but maintained explosives were not tested at the site.

The site, now the Space Bank Mini-Storage facility, housed the Naval Information Research Foundation from 1940-1978 according to the DTSC. During that time, the Navy conducted testing and other scientific work involving “classified materials, testing, and other weapons,” the DTSC wrote in a report about the site in 2018.

The Navy vacated the site in 1974.

Historical use of the project site for research, testing, and assembly of torpedoes and other weapon systems has generated the presence of hazardous materials in soil and soil vapor, and potentially in groundwater beneath the property.

The project includes remediation required by and at the direction of the state DTSC. The remediation would be required to be completed before utilizing the site as a mixed-use development.

RDE is an explosive that can be combined with other ingredients to make plastic explosives, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, (TSDR). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that RDX is a possible human carcinogen based on the presence of liver tumors in mice that were exposed to the substance for one to two years. People who inhaled large amounts of dust containing RDX suffered seizures.

Trinitrotoluene (TNT) can cause birth defects, spleen enlargement, and abnormal liver function, according to the EPA.

The project received approval from the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) for a Removal Action Workplan (RAW). The RAW evaluated removal approaches to clean up the site so that it is suitable for proposed commercial and residential development. 

Pasadena environmentalists have filed an appeal in federal court in an effort to block the construction. If the appellate court rules against the environmentalists, they could appeal to the state Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, the appellate court ruling would stand.

The litigation has resulted in delay of building permit submittal. A court of Appeals date related to the lawsuit has not been set and it is anticipated that the litigation would not be resolved until several months after the August 26, 2022 expiration date.