HOLLYWOOD HILLS WEST NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL PLUM COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, February 3, 2020

6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Will and Ariel Durant Library Branch

7140 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046

 

AGENDA

1. Welcome, general comments and committee member introductions.
2. Consider approving draft minutes of a prior meeting held on January 8, 2020.

3. PLUM Committee Chair’s update report - including w/re: a proposed new hotel at 1700 N. La Brea Avenue, which will be presented at the PLUM Committee’s meeting scheduled for March 2, 2020.

4. 3003 N. Runyon Canyon Road - is a site in HHWNC’s Area 6 and City Council District 4.

Manuel Valencia, who owns the 4.5 acre site still has his 2016 application pending with the City’s Planning Department. Mr. Valencia’s proposed project would treat the existing Headly/Handley House as an accessory dwelling unit, and he has asked the City to approve his proposal to build a new second structure on the site, which is in the midst and at the top of Runyon Canyon Park.

The Heather/Handley House was designed by Lloyd Wright, and the City designated it as LA Historic Cultural Monument #563 in 1992. The Planning Department’s environmental case no. is ENV-2016-4180-EIR. The State Clearinghouse no. is 2018041016.

At HHWNC’s Board meeting on September 18, 2019, HHWNC’s Board passed two motions to oppose Mr. Valencia’s proposed project. One motion passed by an 18 to 0 vote. The second motion passed on a 16 to 3 vote.

Nicole Kuklok-Waldman of ColLAborate requested an opportunity at the Committee’s November meeting to provide more information about the proposed project. Several questions from the Committee and other stakeholders still remain unanswered from that meeting.

Mr. Valencia subsequently retained Stacey Brenner of the Brenner Consulting Group to work with Chris Parker of Pacific Crest Consultants to provide additional outreach.

Ms. Brenner will be leading the presentation.

5. 6541 W. Hollywood Boulevard - is the address for Restaurant 504, which is in HHWNC’s Area 3 and City Council District 13.

The site is owned by Adolfo Suaya’s What’s On Third, Inc. Three tied lots are there, and total in excess of 28,000 square feet. The site includes several buildings, including Jane’s House, which is LA Historical Cultural Monument #227. There are multiple tenants in several of the buildings. The site has frontage on both Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Avenue.

In September, 2019, the City’s Planning Department sent HHWNC a copy of an application Mark England filed on behalf of Idaho Peppercorn LLC for a conditional use permit on behalf of Restaurant 504. The restaurant operated on the site as a tenant of What’s On Third, Inc.

The application asked for a permit to allow the restaurant to sell a full line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption. The application requested permission to operate the restaurant 24 hours daily, and to sell alcoholic beverages from 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily even though the City’s commercial corner rules otherwise would limit the hours of operation (and all sales) from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mr. England also requested permission to have live entertainment at the restaurant, but would limit the number of musicians to 4 or fewer. The Planning Department’s case no. is ZA-2019-5469-CUB. The CA CEQA no. is ENV-2019-5470-CE.

Around that time or soon thereafter, it seems that the restaurant’s ownership changed.

It seems that Te’Kila restaurant, another tenant at the same address, is the new owner and operator of the restaurant.

The City’s Planning Department will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, in Los Angeles City Hall’s Room 1020 to consider the application. We understand and expect that the case file will be held open for a sufficient time for HHWNC’s Board to make recommendations via a Board vote and community impact statement filing.

Lee Rabun, the applicant’s and Te’Kila’s representative, will be making the presentation.

6. Public comments on non-agendized items.

7. Adjournment.

PLUM Committee meeting dates scheduled for the rest of the first half of 2020 are set (tentatively) for March 2, April 6, May 4, and June 8, 2020. All of those meeting dates are Mondays.