“I really do think it’s outrageous,” neighborhood resident Nancy Kubota told city planning staff members and environmental consultants.
It was a sentiment shared by dozens of her peers, all of whom took their turns to voice concerns about the potential impacts on traffic, parking and privacy that an estimated 800 new residents would have on this single-family-home neighborhood pinned in with Glenoaks Boulevard to the east and the industrial San Fernando Road corridor to the west.
“We do not think this fits in the community, and we think it will have a negative impact,” Jolene Taylor said.
A major issue with neighboring homeowners are the four major zoning variances the four- to five-story building, as proposed, would need to obtain in order to be built.
Those include a near doubling of the allowable height to 60 feet, and an exception for 35 fewer parking spaces than the 679 spots that would normally be allowed, according to the preliminary project proposal and city planners.
Density is also a major sticking point for neighborhood opponents, who say the proposed 300 units — 210 of which would be studio and one-bedroom apartments — far exceed the allowable 127 units for the 3.65-acre parcel.
Some residents also said the increased population would bring more graffiti, trash, crime and degradation to the adjacent Pelanconi Park.
“We are the stakeholders in this neighborhood, and no one has the right to come in here and propose a project like this,” said Patrick Masihi, president of the Pelanconi Estates Homeowners Assn. “The office that we have there now is supported by the neighborhood.”
