The Public Square: December 10 - December 11

A brief look at items on the agenda at City Council, City Council Committees, Neighborhood Councils, and various City Boards and Commissions of interest to Hollywood residents. City Agendas can be found here.

Thursday, December 10:

• City Planning Commission Meeting (9:30 AM)
  • Item 4 (VTT-65583-CN-DB-1A)
    • Appeal of part of the decision of the Advisory Agency denying an increase in height to 36 feet in-lieu of the maximum 30 feet for a 11 unit condo project located at 6527 Leland Way. The City Planning Commission Meeting continued this item from its November 12th meeting. This project was discussed here in the 8/19/09 Development Brief, the 8/31/09 Development Brief, the 9/10/09 - 9/11/09 Public Square, and the 11/12/09 - 11/13/09 Public Square. The City Planning Commission needs to determine if the extra 6 feet in height being requested is necessary in order to build the condo project or if the developer is requesting the extra 6 feet in order to accommodate the 77 space commercial parking garage they are proposing. Clearly this is simply a commercial garage with 11 units on top. The extra height is unnecessary, as there is no real reason the developer could not just excavate 6 feet lower rather than building 6 feet up.
  • Item 5 (CPC-2009-2949-HD, VTT-68254-CN, and ENV-2007-819)
    • Consideration of the proposed Oaks Hillside Regulations. These regulations are designed to protect the Oaks community from out of scale development (too late) and protect the area's "sensitive" hillside environment. The City Planning Department is proposing to adopt new regulations which would limit building heights, lot coverage, and floor area ratios. Boy, hillside communities sure do get a lot of love in this City. It sure would be nice to have development restrictions down here in the Hollywood flats.
  • Item 6 (CPC-2007-9911)
    • Consideration of the CBS/Columbia Square Project. This project proposes to the construct 200 residential units, 125 new hotel rooms, and approximately 484,000 square feet of retail commercial space (office, retail and restaurant/bar) with a minimum of 1,770 parking spaces on a 4.7 net acre site. The project consists of a 28 story residential tower (335 feet) and a 17 story office tower (260 feet). This project has been modified significantly from the original project, supposedly due to community concerns, but likely due to changing economic conditions. The current project was discussed in the 9/14/09 Development Brief and you can read the staff report on Planning Department's website. To be honest, I liked the project better when it was 40 stories. At least then you could've argued that the project was a game changer (or "doomscraper") in Hollywood development which, good or bad, would have forced the community to really think about their vision for the future of Hollywood. Now, at 28 stories, it just looks like another mid-height, mixed-use, jumble like the W Hotel or Boulevard 6200 projects. If you're going to go big, go big. If you're going to half-ass it, then just don't bother. FYI: Both the LA Weekly and Curbed posted stories about this project earlier today.

Friday, December 11:

• City Council (10:00 AM)
  • Items 19-22 (Council Files 09-2872, 09-2873, 09-2874, 09-2875)
    • Installation of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Sam Waterston, James Cameron, Mary Steenburgen, and Leslie Caron.