Planning Commission Gives Sunset Flats a Green Light

After months of wrangling, the hotly contested Sunset Flats project got the Los Angeles Planning Commission's approval Thursday morning by a  7-0 margin. Commissoner Mike Woo, a dissenter last month, voted in favor of the project to make it unanimous.

The 62-unit project has been two and a half years in the making. It includes residential and commercial space and is four stories tall.

Last month the Commission had sent architect Jay Vanos and his team back to work with the community to address issues around parking, access, traffic, neighborhood integration and bicycle storage.

A presentation by Rojelio Flores of the City Planning Department Thursday morning outlined the modifications that the developers and architects were able to include.

Most significantly, a larger percentage of the parking in the two-building complex will be accessible off Sunset Boulevard than in a previous design. As Flores explained, the goal is to minimize the impact on Elsinore Street and the surrounding residential neighborhood.

Flores also reported that the possibility of putting in speed bumps on Elsinore had been explored, but meetings with the Department of Transportation revealed "no mechanism existed to implement the request."

The developers also added a bicycle storage room in each of the two buildings in the 62-unit complex. And Flores showed drawings that suggested that they could modify the building's facade to blend with the neighborhood.

Isaac Mizrahi, the developer, and architect Jay Vanos also addressed the Commission, saying that they had worked closely with Council President Eric Garcetti's office in the last month on these final changes.

Vanos also said his team had met with the Echo Park Improvement Association again, which declined to support the project.

"This project has not been without controversy, " Vanos said. "But we've gone through significant effort to reach out."

Mizrahi himself walked the neighborhood in recent weeks, getting a petition signed by at least 43 neighbors supporting the project.

Katherine Hennigan, Planning Deputy for Garcetti, came to the meeting to speak on behalf of the project.

"We feel this project is designed well," she said, noting that Council District 13 has much expertise in working on and mitigating the unintended consequences and impacts of projects like these.

Commission President William Roschen added that he felt that changes made this a "very pedestrian project that integrates housing."

A number community members spoke at Thursday's meeting. Most spoke out against the project, citing the impact it will have on many of the low-income homeowners and small businesse who will be displaced.

"What will the city do for people who have nowhere to live"" asked Maria Zavala, noting that she worked for FEMA.

But John Williams, another resident, noted that approving the project "would send a positive message" after the defeat of two development projects on Echo Park Avenue.

Windy O'Malley, a homeowner on Mohawk Avenue, also worried about the privacy issues Sunset Flats will create for those living near it.  The four-story building will tower over much of the one and two structures nearby.

Commissioners instructed the developer to work to create a screen through quickly growing trees or other mechanism. 

The developers had indicated they would proceed to build the project "by right" if they did not get the support needed.

The Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council had also given its endorsement to the project.

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