KOREATOWN : Development Plan Criticized in Report

Implementation of a major Koreatown development plan would create “absolute gridlock” and may have to be drastically revised or scrapped, according to an environmental impact report.

The city Planning Department developed the Koreatown Specific Plan during the 1980s at the request of the City Council and area business leaders.

City planners often draw up a specific development plan for a defined zone. Such zones lie within much broader district plans.

Donn F. Morey, of Morey/Seymour & Associates, recently gave members of the Korean American Institute of Architects a preview of his company’s environmental impact report on the plan for the area bounded by Western and Vermont avenues on the west and east, and 8th and 11th streets on the north and south.

Among the specific projections in the report are:

- a 21.5% increase in population above the current estimate of 17,000,

- a 20.4% increase in housing,

- a 468% increase in square feet of commercial space,

- a 65% increase in daily vehicle traffic.

In most cases, the commercial and population growth could be acceptably accommodated, said Morey, a former Los Angeles city planner. But development would create “absolute gridlock” within 10 years, even with the addition of the Metro Red Line, Morey said.

“The city may have to go back to the drawing board or it may put the specific plan on the shelf,” he said.