The West Hollywood Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday evening over a request to demolish half the buildings on the 1.4-acre semicircle bordered by West Knoll and Santa Monica Boulevard.
The six contiguous parcels of land are currently home to three two-story commercial structures, four single-family dwelling units and surface parking lots. The commercial buildings facing demolition currently house the Queen Violet restaurant, a framing gallery, a smoke and vape shop and other small stores.
If demolition is approved, the buildings and homes will be replaced by a five-story mixed-use development with 44,274 square feet of commercial space and 111 residential apartment units.
The commercial space will contain 12 live/work units, along with room for retail stores, restaurants, offices and personal service offices. The residential space will have 17 affordable apartment units.
The applicant, Soto Capital, is proposing to include 347 parking spaces in three levels.
Several dozen residents in the area have banded together to oppose the project. In a formal letter to the Commission they argued that the commercial and residential developments should be decoupled from one another.
“What the developer is proposing is an extreme amalgamation, where bonuses, concessions, waivers, functions, and dotted slope-lines are inter-stitched between the two zones,” the group wrote. “This has let to a massive structure exceeding the limits allowed with the maximum bonuses. The assumption and risks underlying the project need clear-sighted and thorough evaluation by the Planning Commission.”
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
E-COMMENT
Members of the public who wish to comment on matters before the Planning Commission are strongly encouraged to submit an E-Comment using the form located at: https://www.weho.org/city-government/wehotv no later than 4:00 p.m. on the Planning Commission meeting day. E-Comments received by 4:00 p.m. will be forwarded to the Planning Commission and posted on the City’s website as part of the official meeting record.
PUBLIC COMMENT BY TELEPHONE
This option is to provide public comment via phone ONLY. To view the meeting, please see information on how to view the meeting provided above.
a. You are strongly encouraged to Email [email protected] in advance of the Planning Commission meeting, to be added to the Public Speaker List for the meeting. Please include your name, the phone number from which you will be calling, and which item you would like to speak on.
b. Dial-in 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting (the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.) Dial in Codes: *6 = unmute. *9 = lets the host know you want to speak on the current item
Dial-in: 669-900-6833
Meeting I.D.: 820 9771 2649 #
c. YOUR PHONE WILL BE MUTED UNTIL YOU ARE CALLED TO SPEAK. Comments from the public are limited to 3 minutes per speaker.
OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO THE UGLY ORIGINAL PLANS & DESIGN???
IT NOW LOOKS LIKE A WAY TOO BIG PRISON.
[…] Commission also approved the project that will replace a shopping strip and several homes on Santa Monica Boulevard and West Knoll. The […]
Weho is so gross. The city run by developers that lost its soul.
It’s time for John Heilman to control the runaway train of development which he heavily endorsed. With the city profiting from projects by the developers virtually ruining the city for the sake of revenue, and the planning department seemingly acquiescing to the subtle or not too subtle persuasions, what other outcome should we expect.
No such thing as affordable cheaper housing developers are liars. How many times have they already done this? Most recent is across from Pavillion where Palms restaurant WAS. Look across the street Robertson La peer project happening. Construction few blocks away Doheny Santa Monica. We have La Peer Hotel at Melrose. Corner of La Cienega Sunset 2 big hotels. Edison Hotel at Doheny Sunset. Hotels Hotels. Plans for Sunset Hammond. Plans for Hilldale Sunset. Plans for Viper room project. Squeeze in Cynthia Wesley project. Like Jean Dobrin stated over 10 years ago “they want to turn Weho in Vegas with… Read more »
With all these mixed use big box bland buildings, seems the majority of the business spaces on the first floor sit empty for years. The mom and pop shops these big boxes replace can’t afford the new rent…so they sit empty and a neighborhood loses it’s character and charm. How about designating ‘affordable units for small businesses’ in these places?
Beautiful! Those opposing this project are the very small but very vocal minority. The rest of us have been waiting 10+ years for the city to finally approve this project!
We desperately need more housing, especially the affordable units!
There will be no affordable units! We will be waiting another 10 years for this boondoggle to be completed!
West Knoll Pharmacy is there. Will be a shame to see it go. It’s been in the neighborhood for a long time and serves many of us residents.
Perhaps they can move into one of the new retail units?
In one of the neighborhood meetings, the developer stated they had discussions with the pharmacy owner to return once the project is complete
I can understand the need to replace outdated buildings and increase the housing stock, but to replace structures that ooze character with generically bland boxes is an insult to the community.
Yes I agree. I work for architects and I am sick of america turning into a collection of CAD (computer aided design) bland boxes. Places with boring architecture lose their mojo, their thing that makes them special.
Lol so you think the plans should be handdrawn instead of on a computer?
I assume you also type this comment from a typewriter.
No no. Its not using computers that is at all the problem it is what is done with them: the easiest, cheapest boxiest things going up all over the US. Disney Hall was designed on a computer for example and looks amazing, not that I am saying apartments should look like that but you know what I mean.
Looking at legions of new development projects week after week on Urbaniza LA I believe the nauseating response would be changing the name of CALIFORNIA to CADifornia.
What kind of compensation do the homeowners get? Should be triple the appraised value in today’s market
A sensitive and conscientious architect could have taken inspiration from the current courtyard building and thus modernized the entire group of shops adding some type of office space ir housing. Instead the original design has morphed into a gargantuan unsightly structure preparing to consume part of a residential neighborhood that has infrastructure unsuitable for the exponentially dense design. Stephen Kanner, the original architect that passed away would never have approved of this potential blight on the landscape. It is a soul killing idea.
This planning meeting is not in Council Chambers?
City Council apparently returned the meetings to Zoom only until a date in March.