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2 Responses to Alley traffic photo of the day; April 3, 2019

1. Pingback: Alley traffic photo of the day; April 4, 2019 | NoVictoryHotel.org

2. Joanne Hedge, Glendale Rancho Neighborhood Ass'n says:

   April 11, 2019 at 11:16 am

   It’s obvious that planning staff and the Design Review Board inexplicably ignored the issue of the Applicant’s plan to “take” the public alleyway for its hotel underground garage ingress and egress. Worse, there are no drop-off curbs in front of the hotel, and rightly so, because the Victory right lane in front of the hotel site is the lane reserved for drivers approaching use of the alley, or of the driveways into the Chevron station and mini-mart, or for a right turn into Western Ave. It’s a tangled mess that will get worse with even a few vehicles using the alley to access the hotel garage. That busy alley is for access to resident garages behind homes on Western and on Winchester, and for commercial vehicles, which use it daily, often in multiples. This is a primary fault in the city’s issuance of a Mitigated Negative Declaration, and should have prompted what would have been required in a full EIR re vehicle emissions and traffic management concerns.

   A second glaring issue and fault in issuing the MND is the matter of toxics in the soils, underground tanks and other debris, etc., from decades of the site’s use as a full-on automotive servicing business.

   A third is the position of the swimming pool deck facing and above single-story residences on Winchester, impacting privacy, sunlight, and quiet enjoyment of one’s property. Tweaks to the second design have not resolved the real matter of the pool’s site.

   A fourth is the record of noncompliance until issued notice by the City Attorney in cleaning up and decontaminating the site when first purchased two years ago, as one of the most egregious eyesores and public health sites in the Rancho. Where was Neighborhood Services staff on this?

   Finally, a modified design that reduces room count so that the north side adjacent to the public alleyway can retreat and provide space for a dedicated hotel garage driveway, is urged. If the Applicant needs to retain the 64 rooms, then it can eliminate the pool feature and site the rooms in that area instead and/or design the front of the hotel, over Victory, to feature a smaller quality lap pool for guests to use in afternoons when it’s the hottest in summer, and for guests’ post-workday sunsets and evenings. Sited there, it would resolve the issue of impacts on Winchester residential, and associated noise would face Victory and offer better views to guests of the Griffith Park mountain ridges and sunsets.

   Amazing that staff and commissioners did not consider and require these alternatives in their rush to approve the second design effort, which re-do was indeed justified, much less the first poor design. This demonstrates once again that neighborhoods and the Rancho are viewed more as profit resources for developers now than places that should be cherished, preserved, and protected for their quality of life–for their community. Glendale has changed, for sure.

   That said, the initial notion of a quality “boutique” hotel at the site was appealing. What followed and led to discouragement, concern, and opposition was the nagging sense and then obvious conviction that all was not right with this Applicant, by its three largely cursory and unsatisfying outreach gatherings via notices to a few residents including two venues not even in Glendale, its perpetuation of the rundown condition, and finally its inexplicable retaliatory actions toward residents party to the legal Appeal, including malicious intent toward the family immediately abutting the site and impacted by illegal junk sheds, habitations, automotive debris, etc., leaning against the resident’s fencing, right up to his property line. Again, where was ordinance investigation and compliance?

   When planning staff’s process involves passing a project to DRB with inadequate prior oversight, and the foisting of a plan riddled with wrongs on a hapless public to tackle and appeal, what are Glendale residents to take away from this scenario? Glendale has changed, for sure.

   With all due respect, the Victory Hotel plan needs obvious and serious revision, out of due diligence for the Rancho and all neighborhoods facing similar commercial developments.

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