Petition calls for further study on proposed La Crescenta townhouse project
During a La Crescenta Town Hall meeting on Thursday, a local resident said a petition is circulating which asks for additional scrutiny of a proposed mixed-use project in La Crescenta.
Developer YST Investment has proposed construction of a townhouse mixed-use project on two adjacent lots along Foothill Boulevard, replacing an existing two-story commercial structure.
The first lot, located at 3043 Foothill Blvd., would be for 18 condominium units in a three-story building with roughly 9,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The second lot, at 3037 Foothill, would have a three-story building with 29 townhouses.
Longtime La Crescenta resident Sherri Mudd said she collected roughly 200 signatures on a petition titled “Keep La Crescenta Safe,” requesting the project pause until additional information can be gathered about what type of impact the mixed-use space will have on the Foothill Boulevard area.
“It’s not like we’re saying, ‘don’t build it or no more building on Foothill,’” Mudd said. “We don’t like it and it’s an ugly building, but really, a traffic study, an environmental study and adhering to the already existing community standard — that’s what’s important.”
Mudd frames the petition as a matter of public safety with a potential harm to quality of life. She also cited a potential spike in school enrollment, an obscured view of the mountainside and the exceptions made to the community-standard-district regulations as major concerns.
Nicole Englund, co-chair of the La Crescenta Valley Land-Use Committee, said she recognized the community’s grievances from an earlier land-use meeting where the mixed-use project was presented.
She considers the issues “valid” and has already asked the architect if they would be willing to make changes to the project and present them at the next land-use committee meeting.
“[The concerns] are ones we’ve heard from a number of people at the land-use meetings,” Englund said. “I think we would hear these things from the majority of La Crescenta if you asked them about the project.”
While architectural firm Andmore Partners has yet to respond directly to Mudd’s petition, principal designer Sean Mo said in a phone interview he will present a tweaked design of the project at the next land use meeting which will take into consideration at least one complaint.
Mo recalls a resident telling him how a roof deck on some of the townhouses could create a privacy issue for nearby homes.
“[At the last land-use] meeting, one of the neighbors mentioned the privacy issue,” Mo said. “I took that issue to my client, and we decided to remove the private roof deck adjacent to a single-house area. Also we will provide more landscape between our project and the single residential area to buffer it.”
Mudd said she will bring the petition to the Crescenta Valley Community Assn. meeting on Thursday in person and again at a land-use committee meeting on Oct. 6 through a representative because Mudd will be unable to attend.
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Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com
Twitter: @JeffLanda
