City Planning Commission rejects appeal of housing project at 1500 W. Adams Boulevard

A proposal from Tripalink which would replace an automobile repair in Adams-Normandie with housing has survived an appeal to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

The project, approved late last year for a site at 1500 W. Adams Boulevard, calls for the construction of a four-story building featuring 16 three-bedroom apartments atop ground-floor parking for eight vehicles.

Project entitlements include Transit Oriented Communities incentives, allowing a larger building than zoning rules would normally permit. In exchange, two of the new apartments would be set aside for rent as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level.

Next Architecture is designing 1500 W. Adams Boulevard, which would feature an exterior of brick veneer and painted plaster, as well as a rooftop amenity space for residents.

The design for the project was one of three areas of contention raised in the appeal from USC Forward, which describes itself as a "broad coalition of students, community organizations, and union members (including SEIU Local 721)." The organization asserts that the project is noncompliant with the preservation guidelines for the Adams-Normandie neighborhood, and is using the provision of dorm-style apartments to create greater density than would otherwise be allowed with TOC incentives. Likewise, the appeal contends that the project should have been subject to a Conditional Use approval process due to its location in a neighborhood stabilization overlay intended to prevent dorm-style developments to the west of USC, and argues that the project should not have been exempted from study under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Staff responses countered that the project had met the design regulations required by the preservation plan, and points out that the site is located in an area where the neighborhood stabilization overlay does not prevent this type of development. Likewise, staff point to the state Housing Accountability Act, which curtails the ability of cities to reject applications for housing developments which comply with zoning rules.

The proposed project sits directly across Catalina Avenue from a similar 15-unit apartment complex which was recently completed, and within a short walk of larger mixed-use and multifamily developments which are completed or proposed at 1421 and 1742 W. Adams Boulevard.

Tripalink, in addition to its new project on Adams, is also behind proposed and under-construction developments on Exposition Boulevard in University Park and Sepulveda Boulevard in Rancho Park.

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• 1500 W. Adams Boulevard (Urbanize LA)