Council approves transitional housing lease, office and parking leases; transfers funds for arts center and adopts market requirement

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a package of routine property and budget actions that included a long-term lease to a nonprofit for transitional housing, an office lease for the city housing department, a parking agreement with a private owner and transfer of municipal-improvement funds to continue work on an arts center project. Councilmembers voted to adopt an amendment requiring the farmers market to comply with applicable law and approved the remaining items on the agenda.

The council approved a proposed lease with Bennys Community House Incorporation to operate transitional housing. Staff described the lease as a 30-year arrangement that would allow Bennys Community House to operate a program of transitional housing for families and provide supportive services including case management and housing navigation. Presenters said the property would include community spaces and utility coverage as part of the agreement. The presentation identified the program size as “seiscientos cincuenta” (650) in the record. Staff presenters named in the discussion included M. Bason (director) and Frank Tander. The motion to authorize the lease was approved by the council; the record shows affirmative votes by Councilmembers Padilla, Lee, Jurado and Di.

The council next approved a proposed office lease for the Department of Housing for premises read into the record as “mil novecientos diez once Boulevard” to expand the department’s office footprint by approximately 9,000 square feet in addition to existing space. Staff said the owner will perform site improvements and that the lease terms are consistent with a referenced annual 3 percent escalation. The council voted to authorize the lease; the record shows affirmative votes by Padilla, Lee, Jurado and Di.

The council also approved a parking-agreement proposal with Rosenthal and Rosenthal Inc. under which the private owner would provide rights to use 57 parking spaces adjacent to a city facility on Ventura Boulevard (the record references the lot and Ventura Boulevard address). The agreement updates an earlier arrangement and applies a new fee schedule under the Department of Transportation’s approval. The motion passed with affirmative votes by Padilla, Lee, Jurado and Di.

Separately, the council approved a transfer of municipal-improvement funds: $1.6 million moved to General Services budget accounts and $700,000 to an Office of Engineering project account to continue work on the identified arts center project. Staff said the project is in phase two, that prior reviews and repairs created a shortfall of about $1.10 million, and that the transfer will enable continuation of phase-two work. The council approved the transfer with affirmative votes by Padilla, Lee, Jurado and Di.

Councilmembers also adopted an amendment tied to the farmers market agenda item directing that the market comply with applicable law; the amended motion passed on recorded votes. Another motion later on the agenda was adopted as presented. The meeting record shows the cited items were approved by the council during the session.

The meeting opened with public comments in Spanish in which several speakers raised varied concerns including parking permits, farmers market operations and masking; those remarks were part of general public comment and did not result in separate council action recorded on the agenda. The council completed the listed agenda votes and recessed.