DEAR WEHO: Adjust terms of the 8920 Sunset Boulevard project

Dear Planning Commissioners,

Please consider recommending to the City Council that the terms of the 8920 Sunset Boulevard development agreement and especially its public benefits package be adjusted upward as this long-gestating project continues to evolve. Some concerns:

1. The total value of the benefits package was $12,100,000 in the documents provided for the Planning Commission hearing of June 7, 2018. What is the total value now? (It is difficult to discern from the staff report.)

2. Item 3 on Page 5 of the staff report says: “Additional $1,000,000 cash benefit payment to the City, in which at least 25% shall be allocated to the Sunset Boulevard Beautification Fund and at least 25% shall be allocated to the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (Section 4.1.2).”

I think you should recommend more than a paltry $250,000 for affordable housing given that:

There is a housing crisis in the State. This project gobbled up a precious parcel of residential land (previously zoned R4B on Hilldale just south of the then Hustler-occupied building on Sunset) that was then turned into commercial land so that the promised Arts Club development could be larger and denser. That original parcel could have sported a 5-story apartment or condo building with perhaps 20 or so units with about 4 AFFORDABLE inclusionary units. But the concept of the Arts Club building prevailed.

3. And so let’s also discuss at your current hearing what the status going forward is for the world-famous Arts Club of London opening its second installation in this new development on the Sunset Strip. The staff report does not provide much detail.

Thank you for asking questions and for judiciously planning for the future of the iconic Sunset Strip.