Volkswagen Pasadena Seeks to Expand Vehicle Display Area by 2.6 Acres

A Pasadena car dealership is scheduled to ask city officials Wednesday to allow it to combine four adjacent properties into one bigger one so they can expand their vehicle display area. An existing restaurant building that once housed the Babylon Mediterranean restaurant would be demolished.

Representatives of Pasadena Volkswagen will go before Pasadena’s Hearing Officer Wednesday to detail their application for a Certificate of Exception for their property at 130-162 N. Sierra Madre Blvd. and 163 Cook Ave., where they’re seeking permission to allow a lot line adjustment that would consolidate four adjacent parcels into one parcel.

The parcel resulting from the boundary adjustment would total 114,019 square feet, or approximately 2.6 acres. The lot consolidation would facilitate the expansion of the vehicle display area for the existing Vehicle Sales and Leasing use by Volkswagen Pasadena.

The existing restaurant building at 162 North Sierra Madre Blvd. would be pulled down.

Under City permitting regulations, applicants may request a Certificate of Exception application for a lot line adjustment between two or more adjacent parcels where the land taken from one parcel is added to the adjacent parcel, and where a greater number of parcels than originally existed is not thereby created.

The Hearing Officer may approve a Certificate of Exception provided the resulting parcel or parcels conform to the General Plan, any applicable Specific Plan, and zoning and building ordinances.

A staff report by the Department of Planning and Community Development showed the proposed mapping action to consolidate four lots into one is consistent with the General Plan objectives and policies. As the General Plan Land Use Diagram prescribes standards for density and intensity for development sites, the report said no increase in density would occur on the resultant lot; the proposed lot line adjustment would simply facilitate the demolition of a vacant building.

The report also said the consolidation would comply with the General Plan by creating a project site that is more suitable for development in an infill area of vacant or underutilized land.

The project would also support the General Plan policy on business expansion and growth, since the proposed consolidation would allow Volkswagen Pasadena to expand their business area.

The public hearing begins at 5:30 p.m. Hearings are currently via video conference only and can be accessed through https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82908874196 or by phone, (669) 900-6833 and using the webinar ID 829 0887 4196.