Plan to Build Apartments Over Parking Lot Still Up in the Air
Architect Arnold Stalk was trying Thursday to get his low-income housing project off the ground--in more ways than one.
But his proposal to build eight apartment units above a city-owned parking lot did not gain immediate support with Canoga Park merchants who feared the plan might steal their parking spaces, impede access to their stores and eliminate the only “open space” on the block.
Some of the merchants who confronted Stalk at a Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce legislative committee meeting expressed views that Stalk had heard before on the issue of building housing for the poor: “It’s a worthy idea, but probably not for our neighborhood.”
The lot in question--formally known as City Parking Lot No. 704--is located in the 7100 block of Jordan Avenue, between Sherman Way and Gault Avenue. It is ringed by a handful of small businesses and offices, including Howard and Phil’s Western Wear, Canoga Park Stationers and Maxie’s Market. The proposed complex would be constructed on top of a concrete deck in the lot.
The meeting was the first of several public forums planned to discuss the project. Stalk ultimately needs to get city approval. Councilwoman Joy Picus has expressed enthusiasm for the concept, but aide Sandy Kievman said Thursday: “If the community screams and hates the project, it won’t go through. The councilwoman has no vested interest in it.”
Stalk--sometimes referred to as the “architect to the homeless” by his colleagues--was undaunted by the initial community resistance. In the past, as executive director of the nonprofit L.A. Family Housing Corp., he has worked hard to win over neighborhoods with blueprints for small, low-income housing complexes.
The low-rent projects featured attractive but inexpensive designs, lush landscaping, security guards and social services for those who live in them. However, this is his first effort to use the airspace above a city parking lot.
He emphasized at the meeting that 30 of the present 38 metered city parking spaces presently in the lot would be retained.
But merchants weren’t mollified.
“We’re all for motherhood, children and the homeless, but my concern is that downtown Canoga Park is facing a parking crisis as it is,” said stationery store owner Jim Hart. Added his wife, Tarky, “It’s like rubbing salt in our wound.”
Stalk replied: “I’m not convinced that eight parking spaces would matter that much. My staff studied the lot and it has been underutilized. They haven’t seen it full.”
Bill Brady, Chamber of Commerce president, intervened.
“It’s a fantastic concept, but it is unnerving to some people because it is claustrophobic down there, and this would get rid of more open space.”
Two years ago, Mayor Tom Bradley, seeking ways to ease the dearth of affordable housing without building large housing projects, endorsed the idea of leasing “air space” above some of the city’s 105 parking lots for such complexes. Two have been built on the Westside, and others are planned in Sherman Oaks and Hollywood.
L.A. Family Housing plans to obtain a loan from the Community Redevelopment Agency and private foundations. The cost of the project, based on the assumption that the land would be leased from the city at no charge, would be approximately $800,000--a savings of 30% over what it would cost if land had to be purchased, Stalk said. The loan would be paid back by renting the units for $300 to $400 monthly.
At the end of the session, the Canoga Park Chamber of Commerce committee voted to organize a tour of similar projects in Los Angeles, and to arrange public meetings to discuss the proposal further.
“I was heartened that they didn’t say, ‘I don’t want those kind of people here,’ ” Stalk said later. “In a lot of areas I would have gotten that kind of reaction. I think here they really are concerned about the parking situation. . . . If there is a big battle, we’d drop out. We don’t go where we aren’t wanted.”
