Maureen Megowan's Blog

Nineteen structures, 18 of which are split-level and two-story residential structures, will be built on the approximately 10-acre lot. To avoid view impacts and to provide a consistent slope throughout the development site, construction crews will move approximately 147,000 cubic yards of dirt. About 143,000 cubic yards is to be removed from the site.

The planned route for trucks hauling the dirt from Crestridge is Highridge Road to Hawthorne Boulevard. An alternative would be from Crestridge, to Crenshaw Boulevard, to Silver Spur Road, to Hawthorne. Councilman Jim Knight, concerned for residents living along Highridge, suggested the less populated Indian Peak Road as a route.

 

“If there’s a way to go down Indian Peak it would impact a lot \[fewer\] residents in our city,” Knight said.

Indian Peak Road, which borders RPV and Rolling Hills Estates, cuts down a hillside behind RHE’s business district. There is open space to one side and businesses below on the other.

As reported in the News last week, RHE City Council is looking at a proposed $100-million development project for a hillside lot on Deep Valley Drive underneath Indian Peak Road. One-fifth of the total cost of that project is to stabilize a landslide on that hill that is currently chipping away at Indian Peak.

Indian Peak had been ruled out as a route during the traffic studies in the EIR. According to RPV’s Public Works, the road does not have the capacity to carry the truck traffic.

However, city Senior Planner Eduardo Schonborn said staff will continue to work with the Public Works Department to find an “appropriate” route to alleviate the truck traffic through residential neighborhoods.

“Issues such as this were looked at in the traffic report in the EIR,” he said. “When it comes to number of trips ... \[they\] didn’t actually result in an impact, a significant impact, to the levels of service to the roadways there.”

Other than traffic and potential view impacts, a complaint made by residents opposing the project is that the condominium development is slated for a lot zoned as institutional. Along the street are Mirandela senior housing complex, the Belmont Assisted Living facility, Canterbury retirement community and a number of houses of worship.

“This is basically residential housing in an institutional development area,” said resident Louella White, a former Planning Commissioner.

To meet the institutional zoning, Trumark put an age restriction on the residential units (55 years old and older) and once built, will offer supportive services for seniors, such as recreation, education, and health and fitness programs. One of the 19 structures planned for the lot is a community center that could support these activities.

But in today’s world, White said, a person at 55 could have children or teenagers. The age restriction applies to buyers but not to all those occupying the residence.

“Teenagers in a senior development just are not something most seniors want because of the noise and ambitions of young teenagers,” she said.

A few residents have asked that Trumark raise the age limit to 62 to ensure it will be a senior housing community.

“It would put a major constraint on our marketability to go from 55 to 62,” said James O’Malley, executive vice president of Trumark. Trumark plans to sell the condominiums at market value.

The development, O’Malley said, is an age-restricted community.

“I would not call it a senior citizen or a senior convalescent care or any design like that,” he added.