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By Anita Varghese
Staff Writer
August 17 -- The Planning
Commission Wednesday got behind
a proposal to replace one of
Santa Monica’s two remaining
trailer parks with a large mixed-used
development, but urged that
the future of the park’s
displaced residents -- many
of them poor or elderly -- should
be a priority.
With two new members on board,
the commission recommended that
the City Council enter into
a development agreement with
the new owners of Village Trailer
Park, 2930 Colorado Avenue,
which occupies 3.85 acres in
the city’s industrial
zone.
The development would include
240 market-rate condominiums,
a 109-unit rent-controlled Single
Room Occupancy (SRO) apartment
building, 40,030 square feet
of studio commercial space and
8,030 square feet of retail.
A subterranean parking garage
would provide 469 parking spaces,
with 34 spaces above ground.
While commissioners generally
favored the proposed development,
they worried about the fate
of the residents of the 109
rent-controlled mobile home
units, 85 of which are occupied
with primarily low-income or
elderly residents.
“We want to be fair to
all of the parties involved
-- the trailer park residents,
the developer, the City -- on
what the expectations are,”
said Commissioner Julie Lopez
Dad, who made a motion to recommend
that the council begin development
agreement negotiations.
The motion, which was unanimously
approved, also recommended that
the council discuss a possible
land swap or purchase of the
site and enforce a development
agreement clause that no redevelopment
physically commence until land
use guidelines for the for the
city’s industrial area
are drafted.
Developers said their plans
take into account the residents’
and the City’s concerns.
“I think I have some
sensitivity to what Santa Monica
means and what it represents,
and I have tried to incorporate
those feelings and thoughts
into the development of this
proposal,” said Mark Luzzatto,
who heads Village Trailer Park,
LLC, the investment group that
recently purchased the site
from the park’s long-time
sole proprietor.
“Some things will be
lost, but I would like for everyone
to focus on what is gained,”
Luzzatto said. “There
are brand new units with brand
new energy efficient appliances,
new bathrooms and new kitchens.”
Luzzatto said the concept plan
allows trailer park residents
to move into the rent-controlled
apartment units or be paid to
move to Mountain View Trailer
Park on Stewart Street.
Residents who decline those
two options have a first-look
option of purchasing one of
the condominiums, or the investment
group would purchase their trailers
at market value.
Many of Village Trailer Park
residents vehemently oppose
any redevelopment of the site
and told the Planning Commission
that all four of Luzzatto’s
offers are seriously inadequate.
“I love the park,”
said Jack Waddington, a Village
Trailer Park resident. “It’s
green, there are trees, flowers,
people who grow plants and we
have patios. It’s very
pleasant.
“We are being deprived
of an asset,” he said.
“They [Village Trailer
Park, LLC] have bought into
this asset within the past few
months, seeing big dollar signs
in a neat little piece of property
if only they could get rid of
us.”
At 250 to 320 square feet,
the SRO units are ridiculously
small compared to trailers,
residents said, and condominiums
would be too expense for many
to purchase.
Mountain View currently has
less than 25 spaces available
and residents with older model
trailers said they cannot move
their units from Village to
Mountain View without sustaining
significant damage.
Residents also worry that trailers
older than five years have little
or no value. If the investment
group were to purchase these
units, residents would not get
enough compensation, unless
the offer includes some value
from the highly priced land
located underneath the trailers.
Some residents also worried
the project would pave the way
for similar development in the
city’s light manufacturing
and studio district, whose development
guidelines are being updated.
“Santa Monica is currently
rewriting its Land Use and Circulation
Element,” said Catherine
Eldridge, a Village Trailer
Park resident. “The new
LUCE will not be in place for
another two years at least and
will not be available to protect
this area.
“I state my opposition
to this project not just as
a resident of the trailer park,
but as a resident of the mid-city
area and of Santa Monica,”
she said. “If this project
gets through the legal process,
it will change the allowable
development picture for all
of the Industrial Lands.”
City staff recommended that
the Planning Commission not
focus on specific details of
the project. They said commissioners
should just give broad advice
to the City Council to begin
development agreement negotiations
and offer ideas about potential
public benefits.
“The zoning on this site
is for the mobile home park,”
said Eileen Fogarty, director
of Planning and Community Development.
“As the city attorney
has indicated, if the mobile
home park ceases to exist, the
applicant has a process that
they can engage in.
“I do not think today,
we as staff are at a point where
we can say we think the Commission
ought to consider this type
of project or another type of
project.”
Commissioners Lopez Dad, Gleam
Davis and Jay Johnson recommended
a list of issues and public
benefits for the City Council
to consider in the development
agreement process, a list that
the commission unanimously approved.
The investment group should
keep density, height, parking,
traffic and housing issues in
mind throughout the entire process,
commissioners agreed.
Some of the rent-controlled
units should not be labeled
as SRO units, because “SRO
units tend to be transient housing,”
said Davis, who was appointed
to the commission Tuesday. “With
vacancy de-control, rent control
is very deficient on a regular
basis because those units are
always vacant.”
The SRO units should be at
least 500 square feet instead
of 320 or less, and the apartment
building side should integrate
well with the condominium building
side so that the former trailer
park residents who choose to
rent apartments are not isolated
from higher income condo owners,
commissioners said.
Commissioners also recommended
that the City Council:
- Consider the individual
needs of each trailer park
resident, particularly the
elderly or disabled,
- Argue for a better method
of valuing and reimbursing
trailer owners,
- Offer financial aid so that
some low-income residents
can move up from trailer renter
status to condo ownership,
and
- Capture in the redeveloped
site as much of the garden-style,
open space, private and independent
quality of life that trailer
park resident currently enjoy.
“The Planning Commission
spent almost three hours on
this issue,” said City
Council member Kevin McKeown,
the council’s liaison
to the commission.
“I hope the residents know
that a lot of careful legal thought
went into this from our City Attorney’s
Office, Rent Control Office and
the Legal Aid Foundation of Los
Angeles,” McKeown said.
“The residents are not forgotten.”
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