Pasadena Avoids Apartment Ban

PASADENA —  Sidestepping City Director Rick Cole’s original proposal for a citywide moratorium on condominium and apartment developments, the Board of City Directors has voted instead to impose a strict permit process on such projects.

By a 6-0 vote, with Cole in support and one abstention, the board decided Monday to require that all developers of large apartment and condominium projects obtain conditional-use permits for projects in an area roughly bounded by Lake Avenue on the west, San Gabriel Boulevard on the east and the Foothill Freeway on the north.

Obtaining such permits requires a developer to go through a number of strict city reviews designed to ensure that the proposed project will fit in with its neighbors.

The area affected is zoned to allow high-density residential development and currently does not include the strict, case-by-case review process approved Monday.

Cole’s proposal for citywide ban on building condos and apartments drew a standing-room-only crowd at Monday’s hearing. The audience appeared equally divided, with about half raising their hands in support of a moratorium.

Several Were Wary

Several board members, however, were wary of such an action.

“I think there needs to be something done,” Director John Crowley said, “but I don’t think there’s enough of a threat to use a police action (like) a moratorium.”

Director Jo Heckman, a real estate broker, abstained from the vote and excused herself from the hearing, citing possible conflicts of interest.

Cole delivered an impassioned speech and a slide show at Monday’s three-hour hearing, showing condominium projects that dwarfed neighboring single-family homes. He said that such projects threatened to wipe out the stability of family neighborhoods.

“There’s something very special about these homes,” he said. “And the cats and dogs that are running through the yards, the kids playing.” Children, he told the audience, “deserve a front yard and a backyard to play in.”

Called Too Drastic

Several members of the audience, including local developers and a representative of the Pasadena Board of Realtors, spoke in opposition to a moratorium, saying that it was too drastic a measure.

“A moratorium is really not the answer,” said Bill Ingoldsby of the Board of Realtors, “but to look swiftly and quickly to review the quality of structures.”

Later in the hearing, Cole said a moratorium was only a temporary solution and voiced support instead for the permit review process.

After the hearing, Cole said he was pleased with its outcome.

“I’m much more happy with a long-term change that is probably going to save hundreds of houses,” he said.

Cole’s proposed citywide ban closely followed fellow director Loretta Thompson-Glickman’s request that a 90-day moratorium be imposed on residential development in parts of the city’s northwest section. Approved last week by the board, the northwest moratorium affects six areas in the troubled district, where crime and unemployment rates are the highest in the city. The six areas are already under study by the Planning Department for possible zone changes that would permanently prohibit multiple-family developments such as condominiums.

Also called for under Monday’s action were a design review of projects of more than five units in the city’s central district; a zoning study by the Planning Commission in the area to be affected by the permit process, and a task force to be appointed by the mayor to study the issue of how to preserve neighborhoods dominated by single-family homes.