Yaroslavsky’s Plan for Beverly Complex Gains

Despite objections by some neighbors, the newly built Beverly Connection shopping center should be rezoned as entirely commercial, a Los Angeles zoning official has ruled.

The ruling supports a proposal by City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky to rezone a part of the shopping center site that is now zoned for residential use, provided that restrictions are imposed on further development there.

Already Overburdened

“This action will not bring about any more commercial floor space or uses other than those that are already there,” said Dick Takase, the city planner who issued the ruling late last week after holding a public hearing in August. “It merely recognizes the existing development.”

Some community leaders argued, however, that the neighborhood is already overburdened by development and severe traffic congestion, and some have accused Yaroslavsky of caving in to commercial interests.

“This is a sweetheart deal for the developer,” said Laura Lake, a longtime activist in Westside development issues who unsuccessfully challenged Yaroslavsky in last April’s election. “This city is job-rich and housing-poor. You don’t give up residentially zoned property to make it commercial.”

The nearly completed Beverly Connection shopping center lies on 8.3 acres of land directly across La Cienega Boulevard from the Beverly Center shopping mall. The Beverly Connection has a Ralphs supermarket, a music store and a sporting goods store. The developer also plans to build a six-screen, 2,100-seat movie complex and two restaurants.

The dispute involves a 5 1/2-acre portion of the shopping center property that is zoned for residential use but has been used mostly as a parking lot under a 43-year-old variance.

Under the ruling, the entire parcel would be reclassified as commercial, and the development would be restricted to its existing size, about 291,000 square feet.

Lake and other critics spoke out against the plan at last month’s public hearing, and Lake vowed to continue the fight when the issue goes before the Planning Commission and the City Council.

Lake said an adjacent parcel, a 70,000-square-foot office and retail complex at 3rd Street and La Cienega, is also covered by the zoning proposal, and that if this is added, the size of the development is really 360,000 square feet.

If the property zoned as residential is not included, she argued, the developer would be restricted to 250,000 square feet by Proposition U, the slow-growth measure adopted by Los Angeles voters in 1986.

‘Windfall’ for Developer

“What it amounts to is a windfall for the developer,” Lake said. “And if the property is destroyed or leveled by an earthquake or fire, it would be like starting with a fresh slate--nothing to force him to build residential units.”

Yaroslavsky was unavailable to comment on the ruling, but he has previously said that the purpose of his rezoning proposal was not to increase development but to limit it to what exists there today.

And Howard Katz, a spokesman for Beverly Connection developer Avi Lerner, said the restrictions do not give the owner the windfall that Lake and other critics claim.

“Whenever someone says windfall, I wish they would explain it to me,” Katz said. “Why on earth would we want this? Yet the homeowners would have you believe that this is something that we wanted.”

Katz accused Lake and some of her allies of trying to make Yaroslavsky look bad by using the rezoning issue to arouse homeowners’ fears.

‘Game Being Played’

“There is a game being played here, and it’s called ‘(harm) Zev,’ ” he said. “They think it’s a cute little game to keep playing politics. It has nothing to do with whether or not anyone is impacted by the change.”

Katz also denounced as ridiculous the suggestion by Lake and others that Yaroslavsky gave Beverly Connection a sweetheart deal because Katz’s wife, Alisa, is Yaroslavsky’s chief deputy.

Harold R. Hahn, president of the Burton Way Homeowners Assn., said he was deeply disturbed by the zoning ruling.

“This whole thing gives the community the feeling that we are giving up public rights without getting something in return,” Hahn added. “The problem is that we all know this guy is eventually going to sell the property one day and make a lot of money on it.”

More Curbs Suggested

Hahn said the developer should have been required to perform an environmental impact report and that the city should do more to restrict the size of stores in the shopping center.

“We are trying to keep some residential quality here, and it’s difficult with all the development going on,” he said.

In addition to being across the street from the 900,000-square-foot Beverly Center, the Beverly Connection is less than a mile from two proposed developments of more than 1 million square feet each--at the Farmers Market at 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, and the May Co. site at Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevard.

City Planner Takase said it would be useless to request an environmental impact report because most of the buildings are built. “That would be like requesting a building permit after the construction is completed,” he said.

Traffic Study Results

He also said a proposal to restrict the size of stores was rejected after city traffic engineers found that smaller stores generate more traffic than larger ones.

“A 50,000-square-foot store generates less traffic than five 10,000-square-foot stores,” he said. “That kind of restriction would be self-defeating.”

Takase said his report recommended that half the space in the adjacent 70,000-square-foot building at La Cienega and 3rd be reserved for office space. All buildings in the block bounded by La Cienega and Beverly boulevards, 3rd Street and Croft Avenue are limited to 45 feet in height.

Takase also recommended that health clubs, gyms, dance studios, discos, and video rentals and arcades be prohibited, to cut down on traffic.