City Council Has Two Meetings in One Night
As promised, the City Council and Redevelopment Agency held another discussion and public input session on proposed developments for Parcel B (9300 Culver Boulevard) on Monday night.
Some members of the public were confused however, as the input session was scheduled during what was termed a “regular” meeting of the Council and Agency that was preceded by a “special meeting” at 6 p.m. However, the “special meeting” featured other agenda items, while the “regular” meeting was all about Parcel B.
Cary Anderson, for one, protested the confused schedule during public comment at the “regular” meeting, noting that he had signed up to comment during the “special meeting” but had been skipped over, and that the scheduling of the two meetings back to back was not good.
Mayor Micheal O’ Leary apologized to Anderson for the confusion and for being skipped over. “We held this special meeting at 6 because we wanted to accommodate the public for the meeting about Parcel B. Hopefully, it won’t happen again,” he stated.
The four developers, Tolkin Group, with their design “Culver X,” Runyon Partners with “Paseo,” Erlich/Combined Properties/Hudson Pacific Properties with “Mixed-Use Development” (with a Spanish-Steps inspired stairway), and Cardiff Realty with “Parc and Main,” set up their displays in the “awards room” at City Hall. During a one-hour recess from the meeting, Council/Agency members, developers, and members of the community mingled in the awards room, looking at the designs and asking questions.
Then it was back to the Council chamber for public input.
As it turned out, few people had a strong preference for one project over another. Rich Waters went on record as favoring the “green roof” project (Cardiff) because of its green orientation. Other people praised the ideas of each project but had concerns about all the projects-mostly in terms of parking and traffic.
Anderson noted that he had asked each of the developers about their plans for parking and received answers that featured the word “assumed” in several cases. Parking plans, Anderson said, could not involve assumptions.
Megan Sahli-Wells was concerned about traffic access, especially with cars approaching any of the four projects from the east. She also hoped that the developers would plan for wider sidewalks, multiple access points, and pedestrian crossways.
Ron Milberger, an architect, said all the projects showed good design but the developers had to keep in mind that downtown Culver City is a pedestrian zone. He wanted to see the selected project be something that would be in keeping with the context of the downtown area, would be in scale to the area, and would have enough open space within the project itself.
Seth Horowitz, who has joined the management of the Culver Hotel (directly adjacent to Parcel B) asked that construction noise be mitigated so as to not impact the hotel too severely.
The meeting was not the time for selecting a developer. The Council and Agency directed the City Manager to place on the November 14 agenda an item for selecting a developer for Parcel B from among the four developers who presented. The discussion on selection will probably take place during closed session at the November 7 meeting.
Community members have often complained about being left out of decision-making on property issues. Therefore, Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld explained to the public that closed sessions are typically the venue for discussions of this type.
“Closed sessions are necessary for making decisions on the terms and conditions for disposition of property.”
During the “special meeting” of the City Council that preceded the “regular” meeting, the Council held a public hearing on establishing community benefits for a project of residential and retail mixed use development at Washington and Marcasel. The resolution passed 4-1, with Council member Christopher Armenta opposing the resolution because he felt that discussion of community benefits was premature unless entitlements were also being discussed.
In addition, the Council passed a resolution calling for a general election on April 10, 2012 to elect certain officers and for voters to vote on the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).
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