Union-backed appeal halts Stanford Pasadena’s home-building in Pasadena

Stanford Pasadena may be forced to pause a 263-unit apartment complex in Pasadena’s Playhouse District after an appeal filed by a union-backed environmental group.

The Downtown Los Angeles-based developer faces an Oct. 16 hearing by the City Council on the appeal to reverse a design commission’s approval of the project at 740-790 East Green Street, the Pasadena Star-News reported.

Plans by Stanford Pasadena call for building two apartment buildings with three and five stories next to a three-story building on the 2.3-acre site, which is located in the Playhouse District section of Pasadena.

The project, designed by MVE + Partners, was initially filed by Jade Enterprises, which operates out of the same Downtown office run by the same family, according to state business records. 

In June, the city’s design commission approved Jade’s 254,200-square-foot project.

The Green Street project would include 263 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, including 42 units set aside as affordable. It would also contain 14,300 square-feet of ground-floor shops, a 10,500-square-foot public park and underground parking.

The development was first proposed in 2018, then withdrawn. When it was resubmitted in 2020, new state regulations allowed the project to retain the same density without needing approval by the city’s planning commission, according to the Star-News.

The latest proposal was approved June 13 by the design commission, which included  certification of its California Environmental Quality Act document. 

A week later, the union-backed Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, also known as  SAFER, filed an appeal.

In their appeal, SAFER argues the project’s environmental impact studies were inadequate, claiming the development could contain poisonous soil from the site’s past use as a gas station and car repair shop, causing unhealthy indoor air emissions.

City officials countered that many of the issues had been addressed within the project’s public hearing process and Environmental Site Assessment. Community groups such as ActiveSGV supported the project for building desperately needed affordable housing.

At an Oct. 2 hearing, several council members were prepared to approve the staff’s recommendation to deny the appeal based on the facts of the case — which must be determined based solely on a project’s adherence to adopted design guidelines, according to the Star-News.

Vice Mayor Felicia Williams questioned whether having the design commission as the sole city body rubber stamping project’s environmental documents was appropriate.

City Attorney Michele Bagneris assured the council that the design commission, while typically overseeing potential project’s aesthetics such colors and materials, is trained on CEQA and had the authority to make a decision. With several members of the commission recusing themselves or absent, the case was continued to Oct. 16.

In the past two years, SAFER has unsuccessfully challenged development project’s in Santa Monica, Glendale, Oceanside, Encinitas, Long Beach and Westlake. The labor unions that back the nonprofit agency were not disclosed.

— Dana Bartholomew

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