Toyota dealership makes pitch to its neighbors

LA CRESCENTA — With a third and final Design Review Board hearing for Bob Smith Toyota’s proposed expansion project planned for January, company officials on Thursday tried to appease neighbors whose opposition to the project has twice persuaded the board to request a scaled-back design.

Dealership owners and management unveiled a plan to scale back a portion of the proposed three-story structure — which residents say will block their mountain views — increase setbacks and invest $1 million in rooftop solar panel equipment to reduce the project’s environmental impact, project architect Dave Szany said.

At the project’s last hearing on Sept. 27, the board urged the dealership owners and their architect to return for their last pitch for approval only after meeting first with the residents and addressing concerns about the project’s size and its potential to devalue neighborhood homes.

“The bottom line is we want your business here,” said Albert Kadlec, a Mary Street resident since 1937 and the self-described leader of more than a dozen neighbors opposing the project. “But we don’t want to lose value on our property.”

Built in 1969, the Foothill Boulevard dealership today consists of a one-story sales building in the middle of a parking lot for show vehicles and an on-site maintenance facility at the rear of the downward sloping property.

In order to accommodate a growing customer base that has outgrown the facility, the company is looking to construct a three-story, 46-foot-high and approximately 71,000-square-foot structure that would occupy most of the lot and enclose all operations within its walls.

And while the commercial zone in which the dealership is located allows up to 50 feet in height, the property’s immediate adjacency to a residential zone has led Design Review Board No. 1 members to insist that the proposed structure not rob Mary Street houses of natural light and adequate, clean air.

Residents have largely urged the dealership to eliminate the proposed third story and lower the structure further underground, a suggestion also backed by Design Review Board member Hamlet Zohrabians.

Szany said that proposal would require the dealership to close for up to a year during construction and possibly run his clients out of business.

Instead, Szany showed a new plan Thursday that scales the structure’s third story back 20 feet from the rear and adds landscaping on the newly exposed portion of the second story. New plans also call for an increased rear setback from the previously called for 8 feet to 10 feet and a 15-foot setback along most of the south side of the building where previous plans called for none.

Despite the proposed changes, some residents remain convinced that the project, because of the increased traffic it could bring to the area, is bad for the neighborhood.

“They haven’t been a good neighbor, and this project is going to make it worse,” said Mike Robie, a Mary Street resident who added that dealership lights have long bled into his bedroom window at night.

Bob Smith Toyota General Manager Peter Smith said the business is committed to being a good neighbor, adding that he is in the process of drafting a good-neighbor policy.

In response to resident complaints voiced at the September hearing regarding test-drives in the neighborhood, Smith said he immediately instituted a written company policy prohibiting test drives on Mary Street.

“If that’s being violated, I want to know about it,” he said.

The project is expected to go before Design Review Board No. 1 in January, but no date has been set, said Emil Tatevosian, a planning consultant for the dealership.

 RYAN VAILLANCOURT covers business, politics and the foothills. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at ryan.vaillancourt@latimes.com.