Residents Put Up Roadblock Against Redevelopment Plan

Residents in the West Altadena Redevelopment area are trying to block a developer’s plan to open a gas station that would also sell alcohol.

At a community meeting last week, about 30 people criticized a representative of Atlantic Richfield Co., which has applied, through a subsidiary, for a state license to sell beer and wine at an Arco AM/PM Mini Mart it plans to build at 2137 Windsor Ave., just north of Pasadena.

“We’re very quiet here now, and we don’t want anything that would create a nuisance,” said Frank Bozant, 38, who has been collecting signatures on a petition opposing the application.

“Everyone agreed this is something we do not need,” Walter Martin, 48, said. “When you have people buying alcohol day and night, there’s a greater possibility for loitering, car accidents and drugs.”

Tony Pacheco, an investigator with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in El Monte, said he received a petition signed by 157 residents, and more than 200 formal complaints had been filed.

But he added that the agency won’t begin to consider the application until the county approves the plan.

Although the site is in a commercial-industrial zone, it would require a conditional-use permit because alcohol sales are forbidden within the redevelopment zone, said Kim Shaw, principal development specialist with the county Community Development Commission.

Speaking for Arco, site acquisition representative Gary Semning told protesters Monday that the proposed 47,000-square-foot site consists of three parcels, part of which is an empty lot and the rest apartments the oil company would tear down. Arco has acquired options on two of three parcels that compose the site and is ready to negotiate for the third, he said.

Semning provoked loud protests when he said the facility would be an improvement to a currently blighted area. The area surrounding the proposed site is a low-income neighborhood whose occupants take pride in their homes.

Residents agreed to keep pressure on county and state officials to reject the proposal.

County officials say a hearing on Arco’s permit application will take at least two or three months. Nevertheless, community leaders are calling on residents to voice their objections to the Altadena Town Council at its meeting Tuesday.