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Council approves Farmers Market redevelopment plan with traffic, neighborhood protections
Summary
The Los Angeles City Council approved a modified tract map for the Farmers Market redevelopment, including a requirement to extend Stanley Avenue and an expanded neighborhood protection plan; the project keeps the original market and reduces previously authorized development.
The Los Angeles City Council on Feb. 2 approved a modified tentative tract map for the Farmers Market redevelopment, including amendments that require Stanley Avenue to be opened and expand the project's neighborhood protection plan.
The vote on item 10, as amended by motions 10a and 10b, passed 12-1. Councilmember Ferraro introduced the primary amendment and Councilmember Feuer offered a related amendment to expand the neighborhood protection plan; both were incorporated into the final motion.
Councilmembers and project proponents said the plan preserves the original Farmers Market while reducing the project's scale from earlier approvals and adding traffic and community protections. "The primary goal in designing this project was to preserve the original market, not only to preserve it, but to enhance it, revitalize it," developer Rick Caruso told the council. Hank Hilty, president of the AF Gilmore Company, said the owners have held the property for more than a century and sought a developer who would center the market in the plan.
Planning staff said the item is a tract map modification for a project originally approved in 1991; the city planning commission and the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee considered appeals and added conditions, including a voluntary neighborhood protection plan and transportation changes. Emily Gabelotti, acting deputy advisory agency for the Planning Department, summarized that the commission's and PLUM Committee's decisions are reflected in the current modification before the council.
Councilmember Ferraro described the project as the result of a decade-long process that reduced its size: "In 1989, it included about 2,200,000 square feet of development. In 1991, it was scaled down to about 887,500 square feet. Today, it was scaled down to about 713,000 square feet," he said. The redevelopment includes a pedestrian-focused central street, a roughly two-acre landscaped park and a dedicated pedestrian connection to the preserved market; project materials also describe a commemorative red-car trolley along the new pedestrian route.
Opponents raised traffic and land-use concerns. Councilmember Walters said she opposed the project based on traffic impacts in the Third Street corridor and the number of liquor licenses proposed in the development, including a request for a full-service liquor license for a motion-picture theater. "I urge you to be sensitive to stadium seating because of the height of the building," Walters said, and asked the council to consider the cumulative effect of several nearby developments on traffic between La Brea and La Cienega.
Supporters, including the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and local homeowners groups, and several councilmembers, said developers had addressed community concerns and that the plan preserves the cultural monument. Todd Lindgren, director of governmental affairs for the Hollywood Chamber, said the chamber supports the project's retail, restaurant, cinema, office and community center components. Councilmember Feuer said Beverly Center representatives had met with the developer before the vote and that their objections were resolved.
The council adopted Ferraro's and Feuer's amendments as part of the final approval. The motion as adopted requires cooperation on traffic mitigations and expands the neighborhood protection plan to include an area that had been inadvertently omitted, with associated measures and funding to address neighborhood concerns.
Council members who spoke in favor emphasized historic preservation of the market. "The Farmers Market was designated in 1991 as a historical monument," a councilmember noted during debate, pointing to the council's prior protection of the site. The developer and property owner reiterated commitments that the market itself will remain and be enhanced.
The council instructed staff to proceed consistent with the approved tract map modification and the adopted amendments; the item was ordered Forthwith.
