Council Gives Its Nod to Housing Development

Developers proposing an 85-unit housing development on a 7.5-acre Katella Avenue lot west of City Hall won a nod of encouragement from city leaders.

Representatives of El Segundo-based Western Pacific Housing have been working with city planners for several months to determine the feasibility of the project.

The company’s preliminary site plan calls for 85 single-family, detached condominiums to be built where the former Midwood Community Hospital was. The hospital closed in 1992, and a subsequent request for proposals issued by the city to encourage commercial development on the site failed to attract developers.

Council members voted Tuesday, 3 to 1, to give “encouragement” to residential development of the property, without formally endorsing a specific project. Mayor Brian Donahue cast the dissenting vote; Councilman William C. Estrada was absent.

Donahue said the city would be better off waiting for the commercial development of the property, which could generate substantial city revenues.

“I would hate to give that up,” Donahue said.

Councilman David John Shawver warned that the property could remain vacant indefinitely if the residential project is ultimately rejected.

“When you bring new residents into a community in a new housing tract--which the city hasn’t seen in at least 30 years--it’s a positive influence,” Shawver said. “With people comes buying power.”