The corner used to have a gas station. Flickr photo via mr. rollers
This skinny housing development was a topic of conversation at the Echo Park Improvement Association last week when a few of the residents next door to the proposed development expressed their discontent. The eight “live/work lofts” at Echo Park Avenue and Avalon Street tower over the neighborhood at four stories high (45 feet), and design-wise it doesn’t appear to fit in well with the rest of the 1920s-era homes in the neighborhood.
The nearly 8,000 square-foot lot covers both 1910 N. Echo Park Ave. and 1615 W. Avalon St. Each single-family unit is less than 19 feet wide and 39 feet deep, and three stories plus a ground-level parking floor that fits cars end-to-end. Cars pulling in and out of the units will have to navigate Avalon Street, a narrow street always packed with parked cars.
The resident who owns the home pictured directly to the left of the rendering (see above) is very concerned with with the density of the project, saying, “It is a clear abuse of how community planning intended the lots to be used.” The lots are zoned commercial (there used to be a gas station on the corner, pictured to the left), and developer Echo Park, LLC is asking the city to “sub-divide a commercially zoned lot,” allowing developers to build the 1,000 square foot units under the city’s small lot subdivision ordinance.
The neighbors have sent out emails and posted the following call-to-action on the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council forum: “Avalon Street is used as a thoroughfare for residents of surrounding streets, and families with children walking to our many neighboring schools and day care centers. This proposed development is unsafe as currently planned. Residents surrounding the vacant lot are not against development, just the large inappropriate development currently proposed. Please help protect the character and safety of our Echo Park neighborhood. A quick call can make a big difference!”
September 1 is deadline if you’d like to express your opposition to (or support for) the project on Avalon Street. You can call or email Eric Garcetti’s office and let them know you are a constituent and a concerned resident of Echo Park.
Case number: VTT-70653-SL
Eric Garcetti’s phone: (323) 957-4500
Alejandra Marroquin is the Field Deputy for Echo Park. You can call her at the number listed above or email her at alejandra.marroquin@lacity.org
There are more reasons to oppose this project. Please email avalon.echopark@gmail.com if you’d like to learn more.
UPDATE:
The City is still accepting official comments on the development. Send an email to Sarah Molina-Pearson at sarah.molina-pearson@lacity.org
Related Articles:
- “Thin is in when it comes to new Echo Park homes.” August 18, 2010. The Eastsider LA
- “Slices of Echo Park life up for sale.” February 17, 2010. The Eastsider LA