The Venice Neighborhood Council‘s Land Use and Planning Committee on Thursday will review a motion in opposition to the 140-unit Reese Davidson Community affordable housing project planned along the town’s Grand Canal, its Thursday evening meeting agenda shows.
Slated for a 2.65-acre, city-owned site that includes 2102 S. Pacific Ave., the proposal is being led by Hollywood Community Housing Corp. and Venice Community Housing Corp. It calls for 68 units for homeless individuals, 34 for low-income artists, and another 34 for other low-income households that its developers and housing proponents say are direly needed by the community. It has also drawn strong disagreements among Venice’s citizens, some of whom claim it is not fit for the site along the canals.
On Thursday, some of those contentions will be presented by Venice Vision, a community group opposing the project, according to a motion that seeks to put the matter in front of the neighborhood council board.
In a public hearing on the project last month, the project had 42 supportive callers and 48 callers opposing it, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported.
VCH Executive Director Becky Dennison said in an email to What Now Los Angeles that they have seen more support than resistance to the project among community members.
“We believe that the only way to solve the homelessness crisis is to create new housing opportunities in every neighborhood, and we have done that successfully and positively in Venice for over 30 years,” Dennison said. “We believe our new and proposed developments will do the same, and we know that supportive and affordable housing are key to community health and equity.”
The Reese Davidson Community project calls for 105,770 square feet of mixed-use development generally 35 feet high but reaching a maximum height of 67 feet through a roof access structure. Along with 140 units, the project would provide about 4,000 square feet of retail, 3,155 square feet of art studio uses, 500 square feet of restaurant/cafe uses, and 685 square feet of social services office uses. Plans call about 400 parking spaces and 136 bicycle spaces.
Bounded by North Venice Boulevard, Pacific Boulevard, Dell Avenue, and South Venice Boulevard, the site, which straddles the Grand Canal, currently holds a surface parking lot and four units of housing that would be demolished under the project plans.
The development’s 140 units would include 85 studios, 32 one-bedrooms, and 23 two-bedrooms. Each side of the canal would feature ground-level artist live-work studios, with those units having roll-up doors allowing for art displays.
The project would also offer about 16,000 square feet of open space, including about 5,000 square feet of landscaped open space.
