Pasadena Project Is Argued in Auditorium

A special session of the Pasadena City Council convened Monday night at the Civic Auditorium--a venue more accustomed to Emmys than council meetings--to consider the controversial South Lake Avenue development project.

The single-issue meeting had to be moved to accommodate the crowd of about 400.

It was the 33rd public hearing on the retail development project, which has pitted developers and business leaders against preservationists who want to save a historic department store and local residents who consider the project too massive and disruptive.

Council members heard different sides of the issue but are not expected to vote on the matter until next Monday.

The use of the 3,000-seat auditorium indicates the interest the issue has generated.

“Since when do we let developers tell what our standards are going to be?” Pasadena resident Matthew Dillhoefer asked the council members. “There’s absolutely no balance with this project at all.”

Much of the testimony, which continued late into the night, echoed the often emotional arguments the opposing sides have been making since the project was proposed 2 1/2 years ago.

“It is most amazing just how many stages and how many hoops a person who wants to do business in Pasadena has to go through,” Ed Langhammer, an attorney and member of the South Lake Business Assn., said just before the meeting.

Forest City, a Cleveland-based company, and Federated Department Stores, which owns the Macy’s department store on the property, have proposed building a seven-theater movie and restaurant complex on an existing parking lot and a line of upscale retail stores on the ivy banks facing South Lake Avenue in front of the store.

Macy’s was previously the venerated Bullock’s department store. Preservationists contend that the project will deface the building, which is a registered national historic site, and local residents complain that added traffic and parking problems will choke the life out of their quiet neighborhoods.

“It’s overkill,” said Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, a historic conservation group.

“It destroys the essence of South Lake, and it is too destructive to Bullock’s.”

There is also the fear that South Lake will forever lose its image as the town’s ritzy shopping district.

But without this project, South Lake “will unfortunately continue to go down in quality,” Langhammer said.

A Ross Dress for Less store, which opened in 1995 across the street from Macy’s, has served as fodder for critics and proponents of the current project, both of whom cite the discount clothing store as an indicator of what the area’s future could hold.

Some opponents of Forest City’s plan say the same city government that allowed Ross in the middle of their venerable district cannot be trusted with another project.

But proponents say more discount stores will invade the area if the project is not allowed to go through.

“That’s hogwash,” said Jeff Ellis, president of the Madison Heights Neighborhood Assn., which represents some of the local residents. “That’s a standard developer line: ‘If you don’t give us what we want, we will put in a Wal-Mart.’ ”

Ellis, Mossman and others would like to see a scaled-down version of the project, without the street-front stores and the movie complex.

“Ninety-five percent of the people who have raised concerns are in favor of a good project and revitalization of South Lake,” Mossman said.

The developers, however, seem determined to hold out for their present proposal.

Said Victor Grgas, director of planning for Forest City: “They want the project their way, and their way means no project. . . . This has been a very grueling exercise.”

Councilman Sid Tyler, whose district includes South Lake, said that despite the rancorous debate, he is optimistic about the outcome.

“I think the debate has been healthy,” Tyler said.

“It has sharpened our understanding of South Lake and the opportunity that is there. . . . I hope it will be approved with some changes.”

The council is expected to meet in the much smaller council chamber at City Hall on Monday to deliberate and vote on the matter.

The Civic Auditorium is the biggest venue ever used for a city council meeting in Pasadena, public information officer Ann Erdman said.

“We haven’t had a meeting at the Rose Bowl yet, but you never know,” she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Proposed Development

The site plan for the old Bullock’s department store on South Lake Avenue in Pasadena envisions the following:

1) New parking structure

2) Movie theater/restaurant complex

3) Existing Macy’s building

4) Shopping boutiques

5) Gelson’s Market

6) Remodeled parking area

7) Borders bookstore