Zoning Change Urged to Allow Hotel Project

If the Los Angeles City Planning Commission takes the advice of its staff, a new extended-stay hotel will soon go up on Ventura Boulevard on a long-vacant stretch across the street from Taft High School.

On Thursday, the commission will consider a recommendation from hearing examiner Daniel O’Donnell to approve a zoning change and an exception to the specific plan that governs the area.

The hotel, proposed by Florida-based Extended Stay America, would consist of two buildings with 211 guest rooms, a manager’s unit and 217 parking spaces. With kitchen facilities in each room, it is designed to serve businesspeople staying an average of two weeks at a time.

O’Donnell said he favored the proposal in part because it would generate less traffic than other commercial uses and it had aroused no opposition from community groups.

The hotel would be built on the north side of Ventura Boulevard between Winnetka Avenue and Del Moreno Drive.

“Rather than have it piecemeal-developed with, probably, a bunch of retail shops, this seems a better solution,” O’Donnell said. “It improves the entire property at once.”

The current commercial zoning does not allow for a hotel, O’Donnell said, and the Ventura-Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan limits the height of buildings to 30 feet.

The proposed hotel would be just over 48 feet tall.

The city approved a conditional-use permit for the project last month. If the planning commission approves the zoning change and specific plan exception, the next step is the City Council. The zoning change must be adopted by the council before construction begins.

The Planning Commission meeting will be held Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club, located at 4808 Kester Ave.