Planning Commission upholds director’s denial of Optima Funeral Home’s request to operate end‑of‑life assemblies at Rosecrans Avenue site

The Planning Commission unanimously upheld the Planning & Building Director’s decision to deny the appellant Optima Funeral Home Paramount’s request to treat end-of-life assemblies and ceremonies as a permitted use at 8131 Rosecrans Ave, Suite B.

Staff summarized the chronology: a May zoning-verification letter indicated office-only use with a note that no services shall be performed on-site; a November 2024 business license was issued based on the applicant’s representations as a showroom/office; building inspectors later issued a stop-work notice for unpermitted interior alterations in December 2024; and code enforcement issued a notice of violation citing unpermitted mortuary-type use and noncompliant accessibility work.

Staff said the North Paramount Gateway Specific Plan’s Table 3.4 enumerates permitted assembly uses (art galleries, indoor recreation examples such as bowling alleys and karaoke, youth and senior centers) and does not include funeral homes or end-of-life ceremonies as the same character of use. The director concluded that a funeral-home use—particularly where marketed as a funeral home on the applicant’s website and where services such as traditional funerals, cremations and international shipping were described—differs in character and intensity from the listed assembly uses and therefore cannot be approved administratively.

Timothy Martin, speaking for the applicant, argued the specific-plan table contains a catchall for ‘‘similar uses’’ and that assemblies for memorial services are comparable in intensity to youth or senior centers. Applicant Hugo Sanchez said he will not perform embalming or on-site preparation at the Paramount suite and that off-site preparation occurs at a licensed facility in Los Angeles.

Multiple supporters—property representative Carlos Presa, hospice partner Yadira Ruiz, chaplain Samuel Flores and Blanca Rojas of Paramount convalescent care—testified that Optima provides culturally competent, affordable services and that the location would serve local families.

Commission discussion focused on the zoning definitions and the department’s prior written communications; commissioners cited the stop-work notice, the unresolved plan-check submittal and the specific-plan use table. The commission voted to adopt Resolution No. 25,035 to deny the appeal and uphold the director’s determination, leaving the site limited to office/showroom use unless the applicant pursues a proper conditional-use or rezoning path.