HOW MIXED USE WILL CHANGE WEST HOLLYWOOD FOREVER
By Jerome Cleary
Do we really need West Hollywood to become like many other larger cities by having enormous buildings alongside second story apartment buildings and single story homes?
Mixed use is a term used in zoning, which refers to a mixture of residential along with commercial on the same plot of land. Many cities in the U.S. and Europe have done this kind of use to facilitate a more accessible urban environment that is more pedestrian friendly.
In the past, our city has had so-called 20/20 visioning projects for community input. But through all those meetings for those projects, residents were never informed of exactly just how tall and massive these potential mixed-use projects were gong to be — some as tall as seven to 10 stories high. If this had ever been mentioned, the news of these specifics would have spread like wildfire. And most likely residents would have expressed great concern.
For any major construction projects, residents have to endure the neighborhood meetings, the planning commission meetings, the city council meetings. Many times the item on the agenda for the various meetings is not heard, re-scheduled and even continued. So residents are worn down further especially if the final decision by the city council at their meetings goes late in to the night.
I have personally experienced projects in my neighborhood being heard at 1:30 in the morning. By that time most of the residents who sat for many hours to speak with their input on a project have given up and gone home.
Then there is the final completion of the project in your neighborhood that now must stand the test of the real impact in the neighborhood. Noise, traffic, public safety issues are at stake once the project is completed and the residents now have a brand new job of having to voice their complaints to the city.
City staff created a proposed mixed used overlay zone that was approved by the Planning Commission on Dec. 1. While it may appear on the surface that it will create more housing for West Hollywood, the plan falls short of the true goals of creating affordable housing and impacts our parking and traffic circulation.
It also conveniently gives developers much more in the terms of providing less and paying less than developers ever have had to before in our city’s requirements. In our city like many other cities, our developers are great contributors to the city council campaigns for re-election.
But there is still time to voice your concerns by appearing at the planning commission meeting tonight, Thursday, Jan. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the auditorium at 647 North San Vicente Blvd. If you cannot appear tonight, then email the city’s officials.
Jerome Cleary is an actor, writer and comic at The World Famous Comedy Store-www.freecomedytickets.com and can be reached at: jeromeclearytalk@aol.com
Do we really need West Hollywood to become like many other larger cities by having enormous buildings alongside second story apartment buildings and single story homes?
Mixed use is a term used in zoning, which refers to a mixture of residential along with commercial on the same plot of land. Many cities in the U.S. and Europe have done this kind of use to facilitate a more accessible urban environment that is more pedestrian friendly.
In the past, our city has had so-called 20/20 visioning projects for community input. But through all those meetings for those projects, residents were never informed of exactly just how tall and massive these potential mixed-use projects were gong to be — some as tall as seven to 10 stories high. If this had ever been mentioned, the news of these specifics would have spread like wildfire. And most likely residents would have expressed great concern.
For any major construction projects, residents have to endure the neighborhood meetings, the planning commission meetings, the city council meetings. Many times the item on the agenda for the various meetings is not heard, re-scheduled and even continued. So residents are worn down further especially if the final decision by the city council at their meetings goes late in to the night.
I have personally experienced projects in my neighborhood being heard at 1:30 in the morning. By that time most of the residents who sat for many hours to speak with their input on a project have given up and gone home.
Then there is the final completion of the project in your neighborhood that now must stand the test of the real impact in the neighborhood. Noise, traffic, public safety issues are at stake once the project is completed and the residents now have a brand new job of having to voice their complaints to the city.
City staff created a proposed mixed used overlay zone that was approved by the Planning Commission on Dec. 1. While it may appear on the surface that it will create more housing for West Hollywood, the plan falls short of the true goals of creating affordable housing and impacts our parking and traffic circulation.
It also conveniently gives developers much more in the terms of providing less and paying less than developers ever have had to before in our city’s requirements. In our city like many other cities, our developers are great contributors to the city council campaigns for re-election.
But there is still time to voice your concerns by appearing at the planning commission meeting tonight, Thursday, Jan. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the auditorium at 647 North San Vicente Blvd. If you cannot appear tonight, then email the city’s officials.
Jerome Cleary is an actor, writer and comic at The World Famous Comedy Store-www.freecomedytickets.com and can be reached at: jeromeclearytalk@aol.com
posted by JeromeCleary @ 7:03 PM
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