Toyota expansion is denied

CITY HALL — Faced with what he called one of his most difficult decisions as a Design Review Board member, chairman Vartan Gharpetian led the board Thursday in denying a proposed Bob Smith Toyota expansion project until neighborhood concerns are resolved .

The board directed the Foothill Boulevard dealership to meet with residents who oppose the project to work out a compromise and return with a third and final pitch for board approval on Nov. 8.

About a dozen residents who live south of the property chided the business’ proposed three-story dealership structure.

They lamented the threat posed by the project to their mountain views and cited long-standing tense relations with the business.

“My family life has been miserable because of the Toyota dealership,” said Vartkes Alaverdian, a 14-year resident of Mary Street who lives directly behind the business.

Alaverdian and others bemoaned the constant noise echoing from the dealership and said dealership employees cause parking problems by leaving their cars on the residential street.

An expanded dealership would only exacerbate existing tensions, he said.

“It’s going to completely block my view,” he said.

But the project’s effect on neighbors’ views shouldn’t be a condition of approval for a board whose charge is to evaluate and recommend project designs, board member Art Simonian said. Furthermore, the city has no view protection ordinance, he said.

“What is a fact is people bought their homes knowing that it’s next to C-1, and those homes were bought at a discount, they always are,” Simonian said. “So this board cannot change that.”

And because the project calls for a completely enclosed structure, in which all maintenance would take place, and provides for significant employee parking, it should eliminate neighborhood noise and parking problems, board member John Cianfrini said.

Still, Simonian added that the board does have an obligation to make sure that homes along the north side of Mary Street are not robbed of air or sunlight.

Simonian suggested that the applicant scale back the second and third stories, setting them farther away from Mary Street and adding to the landscaping already planned.

Board member Hamlet Zohrabians urged the applicant to consider designing the structure so that a majority of the third floor — now slated to be a parking lot for inventory — be submerged underground.