ALPERN AT LARGE-Prima facie (from Latin: prīmā faciē) is an expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance". For example, the proposed Abbot Kinney Hotel in Venice is--prima facie--all vision, very little infrastructure, and is virtual unreality.
Which is a pity, because--prima facie--I like the idea of making new projects a virtual reality, whether it's with hotels or any other developments, and who could--prima facie--oppose job creation and improving Venice's economy as part of LA's growing tourism sector?
The Abbot Kinney Hotel is a 92-room "boutique hotel" with up to four stories that would either supplement, preserve, confine or encase (choose your own verb) the adjacent Joe's restaurant and the Venice Place Building, so--prima facie--this could either improve, work with, or destroy the adjacent neighborhood.
To the credit of developer Dan Abrams, he does have his office in that aforementioned Venice Place Building, and is a Venice resident of 12 years, so--prima facie--his credibility and vision bears some attention and consideration because it appears he truly desires to create a great LA hotel.
Furthermore, the goal of creating a zero net energy building using solar panels on the roof to produce as much or more power than the building will consume, its living walls of greenery and attention to reclaimed building materials and designs to fit into the Venice neighborhood all--prima facie--appears to be an attempt to work with architects and environmentalists alike.
Even the edible rooftop garden (it's the garden, not the rooftop, that's edible!) merits consideration--prima facie--as either an attempt to promote sustainability or an attempt to pull the wool over our collective eyes.
But eat THIS, LA: this project has issues with height, parking, infrastructure, neighborhood impacts and a host of neighborhood opposition that is amongst the most progressive, environmentalist and open-minded citizenry Los Angeles has to offer, so--prima facie--maybe the developer and community need to get back away from "vision" to more relevant things like "infrastructure" and "reality".
To begin with, bigger isn't always better, which to most individuals with common sense makes--prima facie--this project too tall and also a precedent-setting, character-destroying threat to the neighborhood. Yet the host of "this will create jobs" and "bigger always IS better" from contractors, unions and chambers of commerce, enabled by a City Planning Politburo and City Council, will certainly be out there to shut common sense down.
I've no doubt Mr. Abrams and his architects truly want to have their hotel fit in with its neighbors, such as Joe's restaurant and the Venice Place Building--but it's yet to be concluded that those other entities feel this will happen. Prima facie, when the adjacent businesses all clamor for this hotel, the credibility of its developer will be significantly enhanced.
Still, after a contentious Venice NC Land Use and Planning Committee meeting where Mr. Abrams lopped his proposed hotel from four to three stories, he made it clear when asked that he wanted to adhere to his original 92-room hotel plan. So while it makes perfect sense--prima facie, in fact--that the developer wants to make a profit on his endeavor, it's ultimately about making money.
And it's ultimately about the balance between making money and profit on one hand, countered with the need to create Community Benefits on the other hand. For the variances Mr. Abrams and his team will want to have approved for a project that is NOT "by right", this project should never--prima facie--be treated as a "by right" project just because a few special interests really want it.
What is "by right" is that if the developer wants a hotel there, if it's zoned for it, then he should be able to have it. But if the size and height and community impacts require variants, then it's time for Mr. Abrams to get off his environmental high horse and "keep it real" with some serious infrastructure funding for the community so that the latter would--prima facie--recognize a good win-win deal when it sees one.
To begin with, just because this project's 172 parking spots is sufficient for L.A.'s legal requirements, those requirements are--prima facie--ridiculous and from the 1950's, and are hideously abused and warped to overbuild every day of our modern existence by penny-pinching developers who are much more motivated to fund local and City political endeavors than fund our woefully-outdated infrastructure.
Remember: these 172 parking spaces will service 92 hotel rooms, a 100 seat restaurant, a bar, a spa and at least 80 employees in a neighborhood where parking is already a nightmare. On the other hand, if the developer digs deep into the ground (and perhaps, if LA allows lateral digging under adjacent properties like they do in Culver City), another 50-100 parking spots would seriously--prima facie--benefit the community.
So it might still be too darned large, but if another level of parking to help existing businesses allows the number crunchers and planning folks to support that fourth story, then (prima facie) it's worth reconsidering if the developer really wants to put his credibility and money where his mouth is.
And don't go on about the large bicycle parking lot this hotel will offer--prima facie, it's ridiculous to presume that hotel guests and bar patrons will all bicycle to this building. Bicycles will certainly be popular with hotel guests, but for recreational purposes only (hard to fit luggage on a bike from LAX!). Will there be a requirement for some hotel workers to use transit and bicycles to access this hotel and business?
Where are the taxi and bus accommodations? Where are the bus stop improvements to create beautiful shelters, sidewalks and rebuilt roads in the adjacent region--which, prima facie, is what a project of this size is supposed to build?
Where are the accommodations for laundry, trash and food trucks (doubt that rooftop is big enough to grow ALL the food this hotel and project will need) that--prima facie--this hotel will need to operate on a daily basis?
While some of the neighbors have pointed out that dozens of existing hotels can be found within a 5-mile radius, a hotel such as this one can generate great profit and job creation for the City of L.A., and a taller-than-normal landmark might just be both a physical pillar as well as an economic pillar for Abbot Kinney and the adjacent neighborhood. Prima facie, there's always room for a great new hotel.
But--prima facie--we need a L.A. that won't build non-transit-dependent projects like the Casden Sepulveda Project next to the Expo Line. We need an LA that won't build the obviously (as in "duh") oversized Millennium Project in Hollywood next to an active earthquake fault. And we need an Abbot Kinney Hotel that will help, not hurt, the neighborhoods and region adjacent to it.
So let's get back to a visioning/planning process that leads to more infrastructure and realistic projects that the community can agree to (even if it's a wee bit too big for its preferences). Because the City of LA, and its Angeleno residents, deserve that consideration ... prima facie!
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] . He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us . The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) Graphic credit: David Hertz Architects.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 81
Pub: Oct 8, 2013
