Neighborhood Group Attacks Mini-Mall Plan : Development: Parking and noise are sticking points, though members say they might agree to a more sensitive design.

The Eagle Rock Assn. urged a Los Angeles zoning administrator on Monday to reject a plan for a new mini-mall on Eagle Rock Boulevard.

Members of the association, which was founded five years ago by opponents of a similar mini-mall proposal, argued that a two-story shopping and office complex proposed for the northeast corner of Eagle Rock Boulevard and Avenue 45 would have insufficient parking and disturb adjacent residential areas.

The project is in the district of Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who sent a representative to join TERA in opposing the mini-mall’s design.

Developer Olav Solli, an Eagle Rock resident, defended the complex as an improvement over several older, deteriorating buildings he intends to demolish.

Associate Zoning Administrator Horace Tramel said he would render a decision within two or three weeks.

TERA members said they might agree to a more sensitive design.

“We definitely need to have people invest in this community, but not in something that will destroy its character even further,” said Jeffrey B. Samudio, a TERA board member.

Samudio said his organization was trying to set up a meeting involving the developer and representatives from Eagle Rock’s business and residential communities.

Solli’s project does not fall within the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan, a package of tighter development controls awaiting final City Council approval.

As a result, the group is seeking changes in the project as it undergoes a city planning review.

Solli must obtain permits to reduce his parking requirement from 45 to 34 spaces and to put part of the parking lot in an area zoned for housing along Paulhan Avenue.

The complex would be built on three commercial lots now occupied by an auto parts store and an international food shop and video store. It would also stretch onto a fourth lot on Paulhan Avenue now occupied by a duplex.

“I’ve had that property for a long time,” said Solli, who mainly builds custom houses. “It’s really a mess down there. I thought it would be nice to clean it up and put a nice mini-mall there. . . . It would be an improvement for the area.”

But neighborhood leaders are concerned that the current design would bring more noise and traffic into the residential area. They say a fast-food restaurant just south of the site of the proposed mini-mall has already caused parking problems.

Jeffrey W. Pool, a city zoning analyst, cited potential noise and parking problems in a written report recommending modifications to the proposal.

“Possible solutions to this dilemma would include scaling down the size of the commercial project and redesigning it to protect the neighborhood, or construction of some type of mixed-use project with commercial uses on the front portion of the property adjoining Eagle Rock Boulevard and some type of residential use in the rear, along Paulhan Avenue,” Pool wrote.