The White Whale Leaps for the Sky


By Marvin Klotz

The 92 room Best Western Marina Hotel (1697 Pacific Avenue) opened for business more than a quarter century ago.  In those days, looser zoning restrictions allowed the hotel to soar to a height of 52 feet, and enjoy a 2:1 density ratio--that is, its usable floor space is twice the size of the lot. It was then, and still is the tallest and the largest structure in its region. Under the old rules, it could have been taller and larger still.


Beginning in 2000, after monumental debates and a good deal of pushing and pulling among residents, business interests, developers, landlords, and government, Los Angeles adopted a series of Area Specific Plans that established new zoning constraints for various parts of the city. The Venice Specific Plan (VSP) has become Ordinance Number 172,897.

That plan ordains that developers may not build above 35 feet in the area the hotel occupies. Further, the law limits density to 1.5 to 1. The existing hotel is, of course, grandfathered--it continues to operate as a “legal nonconforming structure.”

Three underdeveloped lots (two to the south, one to the east across Pacific Avenue) lie close to the hotel. We’ll get back to those lots later.

Now comes the bad stuff. The hotel wishes to add 30 rooms by building a fifth floor.  This project is supported by the business community (it would be good for business), Councilwoman Galanter (it would provide access for more beach visitors and be good for business), and Mayor Hahn (it would enhance tax revenues). The white whale would leap to 63.5 feet, and further violate the density constraint of the VSP.

You have to feel a little bit sorry for developers and business folk. The City has always made them jump through hoops, sit up and beg, perform a variety of circus tricks in order to get the permits they need.  Then came the Coastal Commission to torment them even more. But hey--that’s what expediters and facilitators are for!  That’s what campaign contributions are for.

It is difficult enough to get City approval for wholly legal, fruitful, truly welcome development.  It is, as you might expect, much more difficult to get around the law--and a significant industry emerged to deal with those pesky laws. No ordinary person could do the massive paperwork required to request ìA Specific Plan Exception, pursuant to Section 11.5.7.H of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) . . . . The hotel hired an expediter; the hotel hired an architect; the hotel paid over $18,000 to the city in fees just to have its request considered.

Then disaster struck! A City Planning Department hearing officer listened to those who extolled the virtues of the hotel’s owners, and the benefits of this wholly illegal proposal; he listened to those of us opposed to the project on very simple grounds (requiring no expediters or facilitators). The hotel already seriously violates the height and density constraints of the VSP; it could not be built to its current height today; therefore, it should not be permitted to further violate the VSP and give legal precedent for adjacent developments to soar skyward.

The Los Angeles Planning Department issued a 46 page report. It reviewed the hotel’s application for exceptions from the VSP in excruciating detail.  To every “finding” contrived by the expediter who prepared the application, it responded with closely reasoned arguments based on ordinance 172897, and the appropriate Los Angeles Municipal Code Sections (LAMC 11.5.7 F2 (a-e) for the scholars among you).  It recommended DISAPPROVAL of all the exceptions to the law requested by the hotel.


Wow! The good guys won, right?

NOT.

Four folks, called the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, get to decide the issue. One of the statutory five commissioner seats is vacant, and, in fact, one of the four went home early. The final decision was made by three folks (again, for the scholars among you, Matthew Rodman, President, Flora Gil Krisiloff, Vice President, and Robyn Ritter-Simon).

The Hotel owners, their hired consultants, a small knot of friends, representatives from the Councilwoman's office and the Mayor's office all showed up. They all spoke about the good character of the owners and the economic benefits of the project.  Not one addressed the law.

I did--but I, along with the lengthy Planning Department report that surely took scores of hours to prepare, were ignored.

Before my astonished eyes, the Commission accepted the hotel’s wholly illegal assault on the VSP, and invited the white whale to leap.

It ain’t over yet, though. First the Commission will have to deal with a request to reconsider and limit the discussion to the law. Second, its decision can be appealed to the City Council. Finally, there is always the Superior Court where, presumably, the law will take precedence over all the pious irrelevancies, and this attack on the VSP will be defeated. We have to win this argument, or the center of Venice will be turned into a dense enclave of five story buildings. Stay tuned.

Posted: Mon - July 1, 2002 at 06:15 PM          

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