Monday, January 26, 2009
PVN Meeting Report: Restaurant at Harrison and Precita
There has been some strong neighborhood opposition to a building permit for a restaurant at Harrison and Precita. There has also been some support for a restaurant, so this was a lively topic at the Precita Valley Neighbors meeting last Saturday.
We were brought up to date with the history of this property: about 35 years ago, the ground floor was used as a small store, but for the last 35 years it has been used as a residence by artists Susan Cervantes (of Precita Eyes) and her late husband. The property was not used as a gallery, as alleged by the current property owners, and therefore should not be considered a commercially zoned space. (Someone stated that Cervantes never even took part in Open Studios, but the location is listed in the October 2006 Open Studio guide. [pdf]) Cervantes was evicted in 2005, and eventually came to a settlement with the building owner.
Several immediate neighbors have expressed concerns about increased traffic, parking issues as well as problems from rodents, smells and fire dangers to the surrounding homes. Others are upset at the processes the owner of the building has used to
One of the neighbors that lives one door down from the location stated that she's not opposed to having a restaurant there, but "It's chinese food, it's all fried, which is different than having a sandwich shop." This offended one of the attendees who then walked out of the meeting, saying he would vote for the restaurant just because of her statement. She then clarified and said "We don't know enough about what they're planning on putting in there to make a judgement."
After a heated discussion, it was moved that "The organization [PVN] object to the application as filed because it falsely states that the proposed restaurant space is a commercial use where as it has in fact been residential for more than 30 years, and therefore any commercial use would require rezoning." A majority of the attendees supported this.
There was much more to discuss and time had run out, so it was suggested that a second meeting happen next week to discuss the issues of traffic calming on Stoneman more.
We were brought up to date with the history of this property: about 35 years ago, the ground floor was used as a small store, but for the last 35 years it has been used as a residence by artists Susan Cervantes (of Precita Eyes) and her late husband. The property was not used as a gallery, as alleged by the current property owners, and therefore should not be considered a commercially zoned space. (Someone stated that Cervantes never even took part in Open Studios, but the location is listed in the October 2006 Open Studio guide. [pdf]) Cervantes was evicted in 2005, and eventually came to a settlement with the building owner.
Several immediate neighbors have expressed concerns about increased traffic, parking issues as well as problems from rodents, smells and fire dangers to the surrounding homes. Others are upset at the processes the owner of the building has used to
One of the neighbors that lives one door down from the location stated that she's not opposed to having a restaurant there, but "It's chinese food, it's all fried, which is different than having a sandwich shop." This offended one of the attendees who then walked out of the meeting, saying he would vote for the restaurant just because of her statement. She then clarified and said "We don't know enough about what they're planning on putting in there to make a judgement."
After a heated discussion, it was moved that "The organization [PVN] object to the application as filed because it falsely states that the proposed restaurant space is a commercial use where as it has in fact been residential for more than 30 years, and therefore any commercial use would require rezoning." A majority of the attendees supported this.
There was much more to discuss and time had run out, so it was suggested that a second meeting happen next week to discuss the issues of traffic calming on Stoneman more.
Labels: construction, parking, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, Zoning
