Zoning change likely

Alicia Robinson

After close to three decades of trying to improve the city’s

Westside, officials are on the verge of approving a list of new

zoning rules and other plans to spur economic development in the

area.

The City Council will consider a multi-pronged plan that would

modify zoning so homes could be built in formerly industrial areas

and that would otherwise spruce up the Westside. The plan was

developed by the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee, a group

of residents and owners of businesses and industrial properties.

Many plans to improve the Westside have been made over the years,

but they’ve faltered because they were drawn up by consultants who

took recommendations from groups that were often at odds, such as

homeowners and industrial businesses.

“What’s different about this effort is that it is the result of

consensus,” committee member Bill Turpit said. “In the past, in

particular [the Westside Specific Plan] was the result of many

community meetings, but that plan represented the opinions of

separate groups.

“This plan is the result of those separate groups coming together,

listening to each other’s points, considering each other’s points and

in some cases coming up with some compromise recommendations.”

Those recommendations include allowing artists’ lofts on West 19th

Street and other changes to bring living spaces to formerly

industrial areas, such as Whittier Avenue.

The plan also would beautify the area by adding street lights and

landscaped medians on West 19th Street and creating a new code that

would require all trash bins to be screened from view.

Ongoing parts of the plan would include starting a police bicycle

or foot patrol for the area and forming a code-enforcement oversight

committee made of community volunteers.

The revitalization plan should be palatable to the community

because it won’t entail city government forcing massive zoning

changes or using eminent domain, and it’s expected to be red meat to

developers, who already have approached the city wanting to build on

the Westside.

“This is more of a free-market approach, and all we’re trying to

do is prime the pump,” Turpit said.

Mayor Allan Mansoor said he likes many of the new recommendations,

and he’d even be interested in enlarging some of the residential

zoning areas.

“There’s developers who want to develop on the Westside, and the

value is most definitely in the land,” he said. “It’s a diamond in

the rough.”

The city’s Redevelopment Agency -- the City Council acting under

another name -- will discuss the plan tonight, but the council still

will need to act on most of the recommendations. The council is

expected to take up the plan March 7.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].