Dear Editor – Accurate Inventory Critical to Updating Housing Element

Dear Editor, 

Crystal clear reporting in. So what the heck is this Housing Element people are talking about and what is a site inventory? And why should you care?

Well, the City must revise its General Plan (think of it as a map for land usage within the city.) It is required by state law to make revisions to allow more housing to reasonably be built. That’s part of the Housing Element, which includes making assumptions about parcels that may be developed into housing (or more dense housing) in the next eight-year period. A state agency, the HCD, must certify that this site inventory makes sense.

The City and its consultants moved at break neck speed to create this site inventory, forgetting sometimes that they work for the people who live here and are along for the ride. Some residents asked for more frequent and detailed information as to what was going on, but it was slow coming at best.

Anyway, as this story moves forward, the City has submitted its site inventory to HCD to look at. Lo and behold, some of your fellow residents, just regular folks, looked at the details of the site inventory and scratched their heads. They found a lot of wrong assumptions in that site inventory. It was riddled with errors. So many errors that if this were an engineering study for a bridge, it would be time to call a halt.

Which is what some of your fellow residents have been asking the City to do. Here are some of the commercial sites the inventory anticipates could be housing in the next eight-year period. Do you agree?

11469 Jefferson Boulevard. This site has been approved and entitled for redevelopment as a 175-room boutique hotel.

Two parcels that comprise a portion of the campus of West Los Angeles Community College. In August 2021, LACCD issued a development RFP for these two parcels, calling for partners to assist the district in developing new educational facilities and supporting office space. The term of the proposed ground lease is 66 years.

Culver Crossroads {Shopping Center] that was developed in 2012. The parcels in question are not comprised of parking lots as asserted, but are in fact fully leased retail improvements with active businesses. The businesses in operation on these sites have long-term leases and include national credit tenants such as Jersey Mikes, Chipotle and Chase Bank.

11111 Jefferson (Post Office/Cocos site) mixed use development. The City listed this both as a project in progress (pipeline) and a future site, with more units than they approved just last week. Otherwise known as double counting.

Two fully operating auto dealerships, Culver City Volvo and Culver City Mazda. The dealerships underwent major remodeling in 2004. The parcels in question are not comprised of parking lots as asserted but are in fact fully leased retail improvements with active business.

I could go on, but you get the idea. If the City truly does care about making provisions for more housing, shouldn’t the site inventory be more accurate?

Crystal Czarnecki Alexander

The Actors' Gang

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