The appeal opposing the four-story, block- through development on Irving Place, approved by the Planning Commission, will be heard at Monday night's 7 o’clock City Council meeting at City Hall.
The most important, over-arching concern is that it is inconsistent with the City of Culver City's General Plan in its size, density, parking configuration and heavy impact on local traffic and street parking.
Note also that there was no environmental review of the project, as required under CEQA.
One need only drive, walk or ride a bike next to the development on Duquesne to experience the dust bowl of air pollution that occurs there every day and to experience the traffic congestion. .
Furthermore, the building is unprecedented in scale and height, institutional in character and it will tower over the adjacent historic homes, the Fire Dept. buildings and the Meralta building.
This structure, as currently designed, is not in any way consistent with or respectful of the style of the residential structures on Lafayette Place or Irving Place.
There are over 700 children under the age of 12 in the area all day long at Linwood Howe Elementary School, the Happyland Pre-School, and the Office of Child Development Pre-school on Van Buren.
They will be affected by the resulting air pollution, noise pollution and traffic congestion, as will all of our neighbors. This will make everyday life in the homes and classrooms of those closest to the excavation and construction nearly unbearable.
Culver City Downtown Neighborhood Assn. and other neighborhood groups who have expressed their support of our position respectfully request that the Council members either deny the project as proposed with the suggestion that the owner come back with a less dense project, remand the matter back to the Planning Commission with directions that the Commissionis not foreclosed from exercising its discretion by the Redevelopment Agency's sale to the owner; or delay consideration of the project and require that the owner prepare an EIR with regard to the impact of the proposed project on the traffic and parking in the vicinity.
Culver City is an awesome, unique and most recently extremely cultural city to live in — and most certainly to visit.
For it to change in regards to over- crowding due to new structures, which do not maintain the overall design, history and integrity of this lovely and architecturally charming city, would do it a grave injustice.
The injustice would not only deface the city but would disturb the lifestyle of Culver City’s very proud citizens.
Please take into consideration all that has been presented to you today in this letter and make this known to the public that it’s most necessary to “scale back this project” for the good of our community.
