Plan to Create Eagle Rock Promenade Delayed

The Los Angeles Planning Commission has delayed a recommendation to develop Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock to attract pedestrians instead of motorists.

Commission members said they liked a citizens’ proposal to turn the street into a pedestrian mall. But they gave the Eagle Rock Citizens Advisory Committee and city planners until Dec. 14 to submit specific guidelines for a design review board to follow, better incentives for developers to provide community services and a list of culturally or historically significant buildings in the area.

The citizen group wants to preserve 11 structures in the area, two of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, planning department hearing officer Michael Davies said. They are the 20th Century Women’s Club Building and Eagle Rock City Hall.

Councilman Richard Alatorre told the commissioners meeting in Los Angeles City Hall that the plan resulted from concern over mini-mall developments along Colorado Boulevard.

He and three other speakers from the citizen group also questioned a proposed wording change made by Davies in the Colorado plan. The wording could merely encourage developers to build apartments on the second floor of commercial buildings instead of requiring it, said Bob DePietro, a co-chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee.

Commissioners said they like the fact that the plan would preserve the community’s small-town feel. It calls for the boulevard’s pedestrian-oriented area to extend from Eagledale Avenue on the west to Eagle Vista Drive on the east. Under the plan, the section would be lined with small retail shops, cafes and specialty stores.

A spokesman for Alatorre said the plan will commercially revitalize the community, and at the same time protect residential property owners.

Commercial developments such as mini-malls, automotive businesses, storage yards, hotels, motels and fast-food establishments would be prohibited under the proposal.