by Laura Garber
Plans for a five unit, 50-foot high residential development at 3415 Palm Drive in Hermosa Beach will be reviewed for possible approval by the Planning Commission at its Tuesday, September 16 meeting.
Neighbors have protested the project because it exceeds the city’s 30-foot height limit. Property owners Tony and Renarda Ferraro contend their project is exempt from the city height limit under the “Builder’s Remedy,” a State approved program that supersedes city zoning restrictions.
But last month, in apparent response to the protests, the Ferraro’s submitted new plans, showing the development’s height reduced from 50 feet to 34 feet, and the number of units reduced from five to four.
“The applicants worked with their architect to address concerns voiced at [the March 18,] Planning Commission hearing by some in the community,” Brandon Straus, a representative of the Ferraro’s wrote in a letter submitted with the plans to Hermosa Associate Planner Jake Whitney.
Though only the 50-foot proposal will be reviewed at the September 16 Planning Commission Meeting, Straus asked that the new design also be presented to the Commission.
Letters opposing the 50-foot plan submitted by neighbors to the Planning Commission contend the city has the power to impose its 30-foot height limit.
“The City of Hermosa Beach nonetheless seems poised to approve the Project under the mistaken assumption that it has no choice,” wrote Peter Howell, an attorney representing HNP Investments LLC, which owns a property near the proposed project.
Howell also argued the development violates the California Coastal Act because it has insufficient parking and “limits available parking in the area for those seeking to access the City’s coastal resources.”
At the March Planning Commission meeting, Commissioners questioned the ability of Los Angeles County Firefighters at the Hermosa Fire Station to fight a fire in a 50-foot building.
Los Angeles County Fire Marshall Richard Stillwagon responded in a letter that the department, with the help of neighboring cities fire stations, was equipped to fight a fire in a 50-foot tall building, but requested the official address be changed from Palm Drive to Hermosa Avenue. ER
Nice building. I can’t believe this is the house people are going hysterical over about the height. I pretty much looks in line with every house along Hermosa Ave. It looks nothing like the banners and poster hanging on the Strand. Fear and bad imagination can get out of hand I guess but whatever. NIMBYs are gonna NIMBY.
Pweir (earlier post) has no clue given his/her post. Conceptuals always look so pretty. Original 50 feet proposal has not been removed by the project’s owner. This teaser proposal of 34 feet has only been suggested. Only an idiot would choose to violate the entire neighborhood with a 50 foot tall monstrosity. It will be 34 feet in the end, with the owner getting an extra 4 feet of height and his 4 small units via this arm-twisting game and due to the city under the prior councils, the city manager, the director she hired, and city attorneys so screwing all this up, not to mention the state’s politicians of course. 34 feet is a foot shorter than the original height limit of 35 feet in the area. Nonetheless the owners, whomever they be, have already alienated their neighbors to be, perhaps out of a need for greed, or to be better than their neighbors. Who really knows? People are all about themselves these days. In Manhattan Beach it’d be even bulkier.
People who’ve moved in here have gotten more and more obnoxious with building. I’ve been here 56 years. It was paradise. Lots backyards and greenery. Now it’s block everyone’s view so you can stare at the ocean all day from your concrete rectamgle bc you’re a jerk. We know.
As a journalist, I have some real concerns with the print version of this article which was mailed to homes throughout the city. The headline, photos and parts of the story imply that the applicant has reduced the height of the proposed project from 50 to 34 feet.
That is not the case.
It is critical that residents show up at Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting to voice their concerns about the 50-foot plan—the only design the commission will be reviewing.
It is also disappointing that the Easy Reader has yet to contact SAVE HERMOSA, a grassroots coalition leading the opposition to this project. We have organized town halls, launched a website, designed and delivered lawn signs, gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition and partnered with Our Neighborhood Voices. A KTLA reporter found us. Why couldn’t you?
As the hometown paper, you might want to include the voices of residents who are fighting for the city’s future.
Elka Worner
Founder
SAVE HERMOSA
The Sept. 11 article in the Easy Reader, reported that the controversial Builder’s Remedy project on Palm Drive had been “reduced” from 50 feet to 35 feet. The headline read: “Builder’s Remedy project redesign sets new heights.”
At first glance, the article’s headline might reassure residents who have been fighting against an oversized project. But it is a deeply misleading claim — one that risks lulling the public into believing the battle has been won, when in fact nothing has changed.
Here is the reality:
The official application remains for a 50.5-foot, five-unit apartment building. The upcoming Sept. 16 Planning Commission hearing is scheduled to review the 50-foot proposal.
The floated “35-foot redesign” exists only as an alternative concept. It is not the plan on file, it is not the subject of the Commission’s formal review, and it has not been adopted by staff or the developer as the official design.
Even 35 feet exceeds Hermosa’s 30-foot heigh limit. The project would still be out of scale for the neighborhood and set a damaging precedent for future development.
The article inadvertently gives cover to a developer strategy that benefits from public confusion: submit a 50-foot plan, float a “compromise,” and hope the community backs down.
The Easy Reader article is completely one-sided; they didn’t not even reach out to the highly visible grassroots group, Save Hermosa, to understand the widespread opposition to this project.
Residents should not be misled. The only plan formally before the city is the original five-story project. Until that changest, talk of a “35-foot redesign” is smoke and mirrors.
This moment is too important to be obscured by one-sided reporting.
There is a lot at stake here: the preservation of our small town character and respect for residents’ voices in shaping the future of Hermosa.