General Plan Amendment Paves Way For Panorama City Mixed-Use Development

Following a unanimous approval from planning commissioners in the fall, the Los Angeles planning department has officially approved a general plan amendment allowing for a new three-story mixed-use building to rise at 9707 Vesper Ave. in Panorama City, according to a department report this week. The move is slated to amend the Mission Hills – Panorama City – North Hills Community Plan, changing the land-use designation at 9701-9707 Vesper from from Low Medium I Residential to Neighborhood Commercial.

Pursuant to Measure JJJ, a ballot initiative passed by LA voters in 2016, the 36-unit project will reserve three units for very low-income households and two units for extremely low-income households. The measure, also known as “Build Better LA,” led to projects of 10 or more units requesting a general plan amendment or certain other zoning changes needing to reserve 6 percent and 5 percent of units for VLI and ELI households, respectively.

Proposed by project applicant Western Paradise LLC, a Tarzana-based investment company, plans call for a 35-foot-tall building with 1,060 square feet of ground-floor commercial space below two stories of dwellings. The unit mix is comprised of two two-bedrooms, 20 two-bedrooms, and 14 three-bedrooms. The development will have 71 ground-level parking spaces – 65 for residents and six for commercial purposes – and the residential portion is set to include a 2,865-square-foot rear yard with a tot lot, a 3,690-square-foot courtyard, a 365-square-foot gym, and a 600-square-foot recreation room. The project, which involves demolition of an existing duplex at the 32,675-square-foot project site, will also have 40 long-term bicycle parking spaces.

Listed as project representative is Athena Novak of AHN & Associates LLC, a land-use and consulting company based in Encino.