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Council approves McDonald's in Pacoima shopping center despite neighborhood objections
Summary
The council voted 10-0 to approve a McDonald's restaurant pad in a Pacoima shopping center; opponents cited the center's HUD-funded history and asked for conditions to match neighboring restaurants' approvals, while the McDonald's representative emphasized standard operations and signage.
The Los Angeles City Council on May 30 approved item 11, allowing construction of a McDonald’s restaurant on a pad within an existing Pacoima shopping center. The roll call showed 10 ayes.
Fred Gaines, representing the appellant Dale Ma and AAA Fast Foods (owner/operator of a nearby Burger King), argued the center was partially funded by a HUD Urban Development Action Grant when it was built in 1985 and that the developer and community expected a sit-down restaurant rather than another fast-food chain. Gaines asked the council to require conditions of approval for McDonald’s to be consistent with conditions already placed on Burger King and Taco Bell at the site, raising concerns about extended hours and larger signage.
Janae Hardeman Kemp, representing McDonald’s Corporation, said the proposed project is a traditional McDonald’s with a play place on a pad that had remained vacant for more than a year. Kemp said McDonald’s coordinated with the council office and community members and proposed standard operating hours (5 a.m. to midnight on most days, and extended to 1 a.m. Friday–Saturday in her statement) and that the zoning administrator had determined signage was appropriate.
After public comment and the report to the council, the council opened and closed the roll and the clerk recorded 10 ayes. The motion on the floor approved the zoning action as presented; the council did not attach additional conditions on hours or signage during the roll call. Staff noted further that the McDonald’s project had yet to receive any separate conditional uses and that the zoning administrator’s determinations remain part of the administrative record.
Opponents and neighbors asked for consistent conditions across the shopping center’s fast-food tenants; council action approved the project under the presented approvals record.
