Plan to Expand Parking Lot Opposed in South Pasadena

Several South Pasadena residents are angry over a proposal to use a zoning regulation that had been virtually ignored for more than 30 years.

When owners of a Fair Oaks Avenue shopping center proposed tearing down an apartment building at 701 Brent Ave. to put up a two-tier parking garage, some nearby property owners said they were shocked to learn that the company has that right.

In 1963, the City Council approved rezoning a 150-square-foot area between Grevelia Street and Monterey Road, allowing Fair Oaks businesses to transform homes into parking lots, said Bill Campbell, director of community development.

Almost no one took advantage of the regulation, however.

North Harbor Associates, Ltd., the owner of the shopping center that includes Bristol Farms, has submitted a proposal to the South Pasadena Planning Commission that would create more parking. But that would require razing an apartment building.

“It’ll mean my property will be worth less,” said Ray Sorenson, who along with his wife, Lois, owns apartments at 705-707 South Brent Ave., which is adjacent to the targeted building.

When the Sorensons bought their building three years ago, they said they were unaware that the property was zoned for parking facilities.

The neighborhood--though filled with small apartment buildings--has a residential feel.

“We just had to put a [“For Rent”] sign in the ground, and calls started coming in,” he said. “But I’m afraid it won’t be the same.”

North Harbor wants to build a 14-foot wall four feet from Sorensons’ property line, but the company said it is willing to compromise for the sake of aesthetics.

“It is our plan to spend a whole lot of money to make the whole thing look nice,” said Pete Kutzer, the agent representing North Harbor.

The company has already agreed to build the bottom half of the structure as a subterranean lot for Bristol Farms employees. The top half would be level with the rest of the shopping center.

The proposed parking facility has been a long-standing dream of the center, whose retail success has been both a blessing and a curse, Kutzer said.

The center’s current ratio of three parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of building is not unusually small. But a number of parked cars spill out of the lot and onto Brent Avenue.

In order to finance the purchase of the South Brent Avenue apartment, which is in escrow, North Harbor would need to use 3,000 square feet of the property to create another store, Kutzer said. More stores will mean more traffic, Sorenson said.

Art Walker, who has owned an apartment on South Brent for 30 years, called the plan to build a store on land zoned for parking “a commercial intrusion into a parking and residential area.”

In order to put up a new store, the company must obtain permission from the city to use the property for commercial purposes, Campbell said.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to meet with Kutzer on June 24 to discuss the possible zone change.