Record of Decision from City of Glendale, and a dubious “sun study”

This morning City of Glendale representative, Manoosh Zakarian, emailed the Design Review Board’s Record of Decision (download .pdf here SKM_C654e19012316510).  The notice was emailed to Applicant Jayesh Kumar jayeshkumar@me.com, his architect nikhil@nklosures.com, and five neighborhood residents representing four households.

The document notes two motions that were voted upon and the results of those votes.  As mentioned in our recent post, Design Review Board votes 4-0 in favor of hotel at 1633 S. Victory with conditions, the DRB voted on the Design Review; to approve the project with conditions.

An additional vote was taken on the Environmental Review on which the DRB voted 4-0 in favor of adopting the Final Mitigated Negative Declaration.

It appears inconsistent with the claims of the DRB members that their focus is only on “design” and not issues such as the environmental conditions of the lot, yet they vote on an “environmental review.”

Board member, Alen Malekian said in the meeting:

“We’re not here to control that. We’re not here to deny someone, by use, by right, that they have the use to build on this property because it’s not safe.”

This was touched upon in an article that appeared in the Glendale News Press:

Agreeing with Simonian that the board’s function is primarily to address design issues, board member Alen Malenkian (sic) said he thought that aspect needed “a little bit of tweaking and improvement.”

The document also enumerates the conditions placed on the design approval, which according to board member, Alen Malekian, needed to have:

“one more go-around on the design of this to make this thing look right.”

However, he stopped short of asking the Applicant to bring the design back to the DRB for additional review.

The So-Called “Sun Study”

We spoke with city planner, Dennis Joe, yesterday about the the “sun study” that was only made available during the Design Review Board meeting, and not previously made available to the public.  Our concerns with the study include:

• As stated above, it was not made available to the public prior to the meeting AND it was not even made available to the Planning Department until “a day or two” prior to the DRB meeting.  Additionally, city planner, Dennis Joe, admits during the meeting that he had not viewed it.  So there was no vetting of the study and the DRB accepted it at face value.
• The study was not done locally.  Rather it was done by a company in Portland, Oregon and dated at a time prior to neighbors being told by the Applicant’s development team that one had not been done (it was backdated).
• The study neglects to address solar conditions and shading beyond 3:00 p.m. in the summer, when days are far longer.
• The study renderings show surrounding trees inaccurately regarding size and location.
•  The study renderings neglect that many of them are bare in winter, and imply that neighbors are shaded by them already during those months when they in fact are not.
• The study makes an admitted assumption that trees on the property to the north are all taller than the dwelling.  In fact, not all are.  And it is a factor controllable by the home owners.  They can cut their trees at their discretion to alter light conditions.  They can not alter conditions created by a three-story hotel.
• The study completely neglects to address the second house to the north on Winchester Ave. which has a swimming pool that, when shaded, will require additional heating.

When asked about how the Planning Department will address these issues, and examine the study more thoroughly, planner, Dennis Joe, indicated they will not, citing that the DRB’s decision is final unless there is an appeal.  Whether or not the study was accurate, and what effect that may have on nearby residents is of no concern to Glendale’s Planning Department at this point.

Though some believed there would be a Planning Commission review of this project, according to Dennis Joe, there will be no further review of this project.  This was also stated in the Glendale News Press:

Unless the board’s decision is appealed within 15 days, the project can proceed to the plan-check phase once the outlined conditions are met, according to principal planner Vilia Zemaitaitis. If it’s appealed, it would head to City Council for review.