Venice council upholds planning commission, approves variance to allow metal multipurpose building at 240 Base Ave. E.

Venice City Council voted 5–2 to uphold a planning commission decision and approve a variance allowing a metal multipurpose building at 240 Base Avenue East, a parcel that had operated with nonconforming uses and which the applicant says is in severe disrepair.

The decision authorizes relief from the Venice Historical Precedent (VHP) architectural standards that apply in the Airport Avenue zoning district. The council’s action does not approve a site-development plan; staff and the applicant said any future site plan must still undergo separate review that will address landscaping, parking, buffers, lighting and noise.

The applicant, property owner Walt Catonis and his counsel Jeffrey Boone of the Boone Law Firm, told the planning commission and then the council that the parcel is underused and structurally degraded and that a single clear‑span metal building is required to host civic, educational and maker-space activities he seeks to offer to the community. In his council presentation Catonis described plans for…