Since when do doctors play developers, right down to angering the neighbors over traffic and zoning? A consortium of physicians is working to develop a site near Olympia Medical Center on Olympic Boulevard between Alandele and Spaulding Avenue (current site of a parking lot) with a mixed-use residential/retail/office building. Things are going about as well as they usually do--one iteration of the plan has already been scrapped and one petition has already been handed to the council office. According to the Park La Brea News, the partnership of physicians and non-physicians--including the president of the hospital--collaborated on the development proposal to support the hospital, but the hospital is not pushing for the project.
West Los Angeles-based Plus Architects is currently reworking the proposal after the original plans for a 44 unit structure with small office or retail space encountered strong opposition from neighborhood groups. The original proposal would have required a variance, but the new plans will stop short of a variance and request a zoning change (the site is zoned for commercial and single family and multi-family housing, but the docs want residential accessory zoning to make their project mixed-use).
Local residents are worried about the precedent the rezoning could set, in addition to the normal concerns about traffic and parking. One resident told the PLN "There's already plenty of development in this area...One could say it's overdeveloped." She also told the paper that the neighborhood is a historical part of Los Angeles, with nice apartments and commercial buildings.
The Miracle Mile Residential Association recently presented a petition with 400 signatures opposing the project to Councilmember Tom LaBonge, whose district includes the development site.
· Opposition Surfaces to Olympic Blvd. Project [Beverly Press]
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