Industrial Park at Chinatown Site OKd by Planning Panel

Over the objections of environmentalists, an $80-million industrial park proposed for an abandoned railroad yard next to Chinatown got a major boost Tuesday night when the project was approved by the Central Area Planning Commission.

The 4-1 vote by the new board, formed July 1 as part of a city reform of such agencies, means that construction could begin at the 47-acre parcel, dubbed the Cornfield, by the end of the year, project officials said.

“We’re very happy with this vote,” said John Semcken, vice president of Majestic Realty Co., the city’s largest developer, which has sought approval for project for two years. Semcken said the industrial park will produce up to 1,000 jobs.

Opponents, however, said that the fight over the Cornfield site is not over, adding that they may ask a court to stop the development.

“We still have options to consider,” said Los Angeles architect Arthur Golding, a project opponent.

The commission’s decision was made at the end of a 2 1/2-hour hearing at which opponents, including senior citizens from Chinatown, argued in favor of an alternative plan: a mixture of parkland, a school, affordable housing and a lake.

About 20 seniors held up banners reading, “Chinatown Needs Senior Housing” and “Chinatown Needs a High School.”

Chinatown activist Chi Mui, who works for state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), said the Majestic proposal is unacceptable because it is strictly a business concept that would not benefit many Chinatown residents, whose children must travel by bus to attend middle and high schools outside the area.

Project supporters, however, countered that Chinatown stands to profit from the industrial park.

“We think [the Majestic proposal] is the best use” for the parcel, Ada Chan Wong, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, told the commission.

The parcel has aroused passions because it is one of the last open pieces of land in the area.

Proponents and opponents of the project also debated whether its proximity to the Los Angeles River would require that an environmental impact report be prepared. The commission decided that such a document was not needed.

For more than 100 years, the Cornfield was a Southern Pacific rail yard. Before the Civil War, the parcel was nourished by the Zanja Madre irrigation system that carried water from the Los Angeles River to a vineyard and fields of corn.

These days, the parcel, shaped like a giant ear of corn and located just east of Chinatown between North Broadway and North Spring Street, is a deserted lot.

As part of Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to transform blighted properties around the city, his economic team proposed transforming 32 acres of the Cornfield into an industrial park. Companies involved in manufacturing, food processing, importing and exporting and warehousing would occupy the development.

Under Majestic’s proposal, eight additional acres will be set aside for parkland and other community uses.

The remaining portion is earmarked for the right of way for the proposed light-rail Blue Line to Pasadena.