Lawsuit Seeks to Block Redevelopment Project

A coalition of environmental groups and local residents sued Wednesday to stop an $80-million industrial park proposed for an abandoned railroad yard next to Chinatown, saying that the 47-acre parcel could be put to better use for parks, housing and a school.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, said Los Angeles city officials erred in not requiring Majestic Realty Co., the project’s developer, to do an environmental impact report for the project. In granting permission, the Central Area Planning Commission ruled July 16 that a negative mitigation declaration--listing corrective measures being undertaken to reduce the project’s impact--was sufficient.

One attorney for the plaintiffs contended that it was unprecedented for the city not to require a report, which would entail a thorough review of the project’s impact on neighbors, the environment and other factors.

“A full [report] is essential” for a project of this magnitude, attorney Jan Chatten-Brown said at a news conference announcing the suit.

She and others contend that warehouse space, a major project component, was unsuitable because of aging heavy-industry buildings already located there. They also accused the city of failing to consider an alternative.

That plan, which opponents said would cost $20 million, would feature mixed uses that would include a middle school, a lake, affordable housing and a park.

“The Majestic project is a gross misuse of this land,” said architect Arthur Golding.

A Majestic official called the lawsuit ridiculous and said the city’s approval was proper and legal.

“It’s unfortunate that special interest groups are unhappy with the city’s planning . . . and something that is good for that community,” said Majestic Vice President John Semcken. “From an environmental standpoint, we are cleaning it up. Part of our development calls for several mitigation [measures] to ensure that issues from historic resources to water runoff are being taken care of.”

The parcel, dubbed the Cornfield because corn was grown there before the turn of the 20th century, was one of 32 blighted properties targeted by the city for development. Mayor Richard Riordan’s economic team backed the Majestic project, believing that the creation of 1,000 jobs was a worthwhile goal. The city has already attracted federal “Brownfields” funds, which are used to clean up contaminated parcels.

Under Majestic’s plan, 32 acres of the Cornfield, just east of Chinatown between North Broadway and North Spring Street, would become an industrial park. Companies involved in manufacturing, food processing, importing and exporting and warehousing would occupy the space.

In addition, eight acres would be set aside for parkland and other community uses. A remaining portion is earmarked for the right of way for the proposed light-rail line from downtown to Pasadena.

The lawsuit is the latest round in what has become a bitter struggle over the project. Charging that the area is park-poor and that Chinatown’s children must be bused out of the area to attend middle school, opponents seized on these issues to criticize the Majestic plan.

When a section of the old Zanja Madre irrigation system, which carried water from the Los Angeles River, was discovered in the parcel earlier this year, Lewis MacAdams, head of the Friends of the Los Angeles River, said the discovery was important enough to sidetrack Majestic’s proposal.

But the Central Area Planning Commission, one of seven new planning panels created to deal with local issues, heard both sides in a 2 1/2-hour hearing in July and ruled in favor of Majestic.

One lawyer for the plaintiffs, Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told reporters at Wednesday’s news conference that the project could be mired in the courts for five years.