Council OKs Planned Senior Citizens Home

Despite protests from a number of residents, the City Council this week approved a zoning change and conditional-use permit that will allow Glendale-based Southern California Presbyterian Homes to open a senior citizens facility in the Taft Avenue neighborhood.

Residents had mounted a letter-writing campaign urging the council to reject the proposal, saying they feared that the home would hurt property values in the community and that fast-moving traffic on Taft made the area inappropriate for the project.

Others said they were concerned about increased traffic, noise and the possibility that the home would be a nuisance to Covenant Community Church, which sits next to the site.

“If you rezone this, you will rezone the church right out of the area,” Robert Schorr, the church’s pastor, said at a public hearing Tuesday before the council vote.

The developer dramatically scaled back initial plans for the assisted-care facility after the Planning Commission denied its first request for the project.

The current plan for the one-acre site in the 1500 block of Taft calls for a two-story facility with 48 units for seniors who are basically independent but may need some assistance with daily care.