EASTSIDE : Residents Force Project Scale Down

A developer’s plans for a $22-million, seven-story, 244-unit apartment complex have been drastically scaled back after a 1 1/2-year battle with Eastside residents.

Last month, the City Council approved Peter S. Cooke and Associates’ series of three- and four-story apartment buildings for families in the Mission-Broadway neighborhood. The plan allows for 150 apartments, with one-third designated for seniors.

Although the Utah developer’s latest plans do not meet all their demands, members of the Concerned Citizens Coalition are celebrating.

“I think it’s a warning to developers who want to come into our community that there is a strong coalition that is concerned about density and height and traffic, among other things,” said Michael Diaz, a lifelong resident of Lincoln Heights.

Cooke could not be reached for comment.

Diaz and members of the Lincoln Heights Preservation Assn. met with Cooke in mid-1992 and became alarmed about the size of the project. About the same time, word of the proposal spread to El Sereno and the two neighborhoods formed a coalition to fight the development.

Legal Aid Foundation attorney Sharon Lowe informed them of their rights and advised them on how to maneuver the city’s planning process.

“It’s a matter of instilling self-esteem among the residents, that this is their community,” Lowe said.

“They know the day-to-day living here, the traffic makeup, the pedestrian makeup, the ethnic and class makeup of their community, the seniors, families with children and how all these developments will impact them. They’re saying to a developer that you have to take us into account, and then hold (the developers) responsible.

“They recognize that multiple family housing is needed but it doesn’t have to be a cardboard-box development and that’s what they’re fighting for, to ensure that this community doesn’t turn into a slum,” Lowe said. “I think it really says a lot for them.”

The plans for the development will have to be redrawn and, in an unusual concession approved by the City Council, members of the coalition will be involved in the redesign.

“You can’t really fight city hall but you can end up making city hall work for you,” said Stephanie Mancillas, co-chair of the coalition and a resident of Lincoln Heights since 1955.

Among the concessions also approved are a 4,000-square-foot child-care center that will accommodate 90, a 2,500-square-foot community room for residents, provisions for a residents’ association and restrictions on the commercial space to be built.

Members of the coalition said they have also learned much more about how government works and how to make elected officials responsive.

They have met with other neighborhood groups, notably the residents whose homes are targeted for demolition in the County-USC Medical Center expansion, to share information and provide moral support.

“We’re trying because it’s going to affect you one way or another,” Mancillas said.

“If you don’t look to the neighbors on each side, pretty soon you’re going to be crowded, and then you’ll say, ‘How did this happen?’

“I think everybody should be aware of what’s going on around them.”