LA Planners to take up Ponte Vista proposal

Long-stalled development plans for the former Navy housing property in San Pedro move to the Los Angeles Planning Commission on Tuesday, when the latest vision for the Ponte Vista project will be reviewed.

A hearing on the city’s final environmental impact report , released June 27, will be held during the commissions 10 am meeting at the Port of Los Angeles Administration Building at 425 S. Palos Verdes St. in San Pedro.

While the new Ponte Vista plan calls for developing 830 homes- much smaller than earlier proposals that went as high as 2,300 homes- there remains strong opposition among those who want the 61.2-acre property to remain R-1, which would cut the numbers back even further.

Board members of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council continued to express “serious concerns” about the proposal in its July 8 resolution. Those concerns include a lack of traditional single-family housing and not enough public open space.

Supporters, including the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, believe the project will work in concept.

Developing the entire parcel at 26900 S. Western Ave. with detached single-family homes would not be financially feasible, according to iStar, which currently owns the property.

Supporters also say its time to move forward on the project after nearly a decade of discussion. As originally planned in 2005, Ponte vista called for building 2,300 homes on a long-vacant and dilapidated site still dotted with old Navy homes.

The proposal encountered wide-spread opposition from residents who said it was too dense and would cause more traffic congestion in the area. The project went through numerous revisions after that as the property also changed hands. It was purchased by iStar Financial in 2010.

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