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450-unit Del Aire apartment
project weighed by county
Officials will continue the public hearing to Sept. 20 in a fight over
proposed complex.
By Alison Shackelford - September 7, 2004
Copley News Service
The squabble over a proposed 450-unit apartment complex in unincorporated
Del Aire moved to downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, with county officials
hearing from dozens of critics and supporters of the project.
At a public hearing held by the Regional Planning Commission, more than 15
residents of Del Aire pleaded with commissioners to turn down the
developer's proposal for the complex. Some said it would make traffic
worse and overburden already crowded schools, while others argued it would
slow the Sheriff's Department response to emergencies and worsen a parking
situation already strained by visitors to the nearby Airport Courthouse.
Meanwhile, the developer -- Trammel Crow Residential -- was joined by the
El Segundo Chamber of Commerce and other local business representatives in
asking the commission to approve the apartments. More housing is
desperately needed in the South Bay and elsewhere in the Los Angeles
region, they said, and the new, market-rate apartments would be a perfect
match for employees who work in businesses next door.
In the end, the commission agreed only to continue the public hearing on
the project to 6 p.m. Sept. 20 at Del Aire's Anza School.
There will be standing room only at that meeting, promised John Koppelman,
who has spearheaded the community's opposition to the project by walking
door-to-door, notifying neighbors about it. So far he has collected 251
signatures against it from the roughly 800-member community, he said.
"Our area should not be required to bear the burden of the critical
housing shortage of the entire region," Koppelman said.
Trammel Crow has permission to build a 20-story office tower on the
property, and is still willing to do that, company officials said.
However, the company has proposed building the apartment complex instead.
The proliferation of existing commercial space in the area and the lack of
nearby housing changed the minds of company executives about what was
needed at the site, said Lee Harrington, president of the Los Angeles
County Economic Development Corp., which owns the land on which the
apartments would be built.
The apartments, he argued, would bring less traffic and fewer people than
the much larger office tower.
"We believe that this alternative residential development is really
the preferable development for both the community and the county,"
Harrington said.
Anita Rodal, a resident of Hollyglen in Hawthorne, agreed, arguing that
the apartments would help sustain property values as well.
"This is not an issue where there's a choice of what the residents
want (in) the surrounding area. This has already been designated
commercial," Rodal said. "I think it's important to look at the
alternative -- that being a much more moderate residential, and high-end
residential, development -- that would bring the kind of people into the
area who will want to stay."
But Del Aire resident Julissa Padilla, who opposes the project, said
Trammel Crow is bluffing about building the office tower. Commercial
properties are plagued by vacancies while demand for housing is
skyrocketing, she pointed out.
"I don't think they're going to build a high-rise," Padilla
said. "They're not going to be able to (lease) it all out. They know
if they make it residential, they'll sell it right away.
"I think they're using (the office tower) as an excuse so we say, 'Oh
my God, this is so much better than if they built a high-rise.' "
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