Holland Partner Group has hit a snag with its plan to build an 185-unit apartment complex in Hollywood.
An affiliate of the Laborers’ Union International of North America appealed the environmental impact report for the project this week, according to Urbanize. Holland’s project is slated for a 1.7-acre site at the corner of St. Andrews Place and De Longpre Avenue.
The appeal is being heard by the Central Area Planning Commission, which arbitrates decisions for the Department of City Planning’s Zoning Administrator. Holland’s plans were approved in late June.
The union’s affiliate, the Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, claims that environmental impact report the developer submitted isn’t up to snuff with the California Environmental Quality Act.
The appeal specifically claims significant noise and traffic impacts have not been addressed sufficiently, along with potential impacts to public services. But the union has been accused of “greenmailing” developers into hiring union labor at their L.A.-area projects in the past, in exchange for dropping challenges against projects.
Developer Icon Company accused the same union and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters in a lawsuit filed in January, of using CEQA claims to delay their Icon at Panorama project in Panorama City. The suit also claimed the labor unions had done the same for a dozen other projects across the region. A judge threw out some of the claims last month, but others are still being litigated.
Environmental appeals can delay projects for several months and drive up development costs.
Relevant Group made similar claims against Nourmand & Associates over appeals to Relevant Group hotel projects in Hollywood. In one case, Relevant Group agreed to pay what it called a $5.5 million “ransom” to Saeed Nourmand to drop an appeal. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch