Earlier today, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted 7-0 to approve a local development firm's plan to replace three single-family homes in Mid-City with multifamily construction.
The proposed project, which comes from the Ketter Group, is slated for a nearly 17,000-square-foot site at 2241 Clyde Avenue - not far from the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. Plans call for the construction of a new five-story edifice featuring 22 residential units above at-grade parking for 30 vehicles.
Ketter's in-house architects have designed the building to fit the property's triangular footprint, with an L-shaped structure flanking a second-story balcony covering the ground-floor parking. Renderings also show a series of private rooftop decks for units on the upper floor of the building.
While the project did not face a formal appeal, three residents of the surrounding neighborhood provided public comment to express their objections to the proposed apartment building, calling its scale unprecedented for the community and arguing that Ketter had failed to address concerns regarding traffic and privacy.
Planning staff responded by noting that the size of the project did not meet the threshold to require a traffic study, and stated that the developer had agreed to plant mature trees to address concerns regarding balconies overlooking neighboring properties.
Commissioners, after critiquing the design and acknowledging the challenges of building multifamily housing in neighborhoods which consist predominantly of single-family dwellings, voted in support of the project, citing restrictions placed on the City of Los Angeles by state law.
The vote by the Planning Commission signs off on density bonus incentives and a conditional use permit requested by Ketter, which would permit a larger structure than allowed under the West Adams-Baldwin Hills-Leimert Park community plan's zoning for the property. In exchange for the incentives, a total of four apartments would be set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing at the very low-income level.
Ketter, which is based out of Studio City, is a prolific developer of multifamily housing across the City of Los Angeles, with a particular affinity for the Mid-City area. Another of the developer's projects in the neighborhood was approved at the previous meeting of the Planning Commission.
- Mid-City (Urbanize LA)