By Eliza PARTIKA

The City of Glendale Planning Commission hosted a community meeting at the Sparr Heights Community Center on May 22 to present its updates on zoning codes and design standards. Vilia Zemaitaitis, principal planner for the city, presented the plans hoping they would be more objective rather than subjective in nature.

Zemaitaitis’ presentation discussed new objective design standards for multi-family zoning that will be put before the Design Review Board and Glendale City Council, and invited community feedback on the proposed standards.

Under the current guidelines, the R-1250 standards for high-density residential housing in Glendale allows for the development of a maximum of 1,250 feet of dwelling space in high-density or commercial areas, if all the other standards of residential living, such as green space and quality of life, are met. Creating new objective standards and eliminating current R-1250 zoning requirements, Zemaitaitis said, would make it easier for developers to build affordable residential housing in high-density zones because they wouldn’t need to request as many variances (exceptions) to objective, agreed upon standards.

Some of the standards shown to the community included new designs and requirements for setbacks, vertical and horizontal designs, and window and floor space requirements.

The presentation was met with skepticism and scrutiny by community members in attendance with many raising concerns about whether the new objective standards would truly help or hinder the City’s efforts to build affordable housing. Chief among the concerns of La Crescenta and Montrose residents was the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the necessary affordable housing units and the desire to preserve the character of neighborhoods and support local businesses on Honolulu Avenue.

Some present at the meeting were concerned housing built in high-density areas would not be as affordable as needed in Glendale because of the need for developers and landlords to make up the high costs of land.

“I think the main concern of the Montrose Shopping Park Association is, if you’re going to invite developers into our area, and if you build something that’s very expensive on very expensive land and rent it out at a very expensive rate, all the square footage, all the small businesses will go. Montrose will not be the same,” said Francesca Smith, director of the Glendale Historical Society.

Andre Oudubegian, president of the Montrose Shopping Park Association, agreed with Smith, expressing concern for the atmosphere the new plans would create, were they enacted as presented.

“We have taken great care to cultivate an atmosphere where people feel safe in Montrose,” Ordubegian said. “People associate the word ‘love’ with ‘Montrose,’ and we’d like to keep that just the way it is. There have been so many different projects where it starts like this, and all of a sudden all those ugly buildings start popping up. We don’t want it.”

“Each time there’s been a [concern and someone has spoken up], it’s made the project better,” said Zemaitaitis in response to an inundation of resident comments and concerns. [Did he really say that? “nuance”?]

The City of Glendale’s Housing Element, published in 2021, mentions the city has capacity for 13,425 housing units, 8,644 of which still need to be built. By changing the requirements for high-density commercial and multifamily residential units, Zemaitaitis hopes the city will be able to increase the capacity to build affordable housing units and meet the City’s goal by 2029.

The proposed standards will go through several more rounds of public comment before they are shown to Glendale City Council and the city’s Planning Commission. Zemaitaitis encouraged the community to participate in community sessions, attend council meetings and write their council and commission members with any concerns.

The next planned virtual meeting, available on the city’s Community Calendar, was held on May 29.

“This is why it is a public process, because the meetings are open and the public is able to give feedback,” said Zemaitaitis in the meeting. “We can take your input after this meeting. We can take your input during the Planning Commission meeting. We encourage you to come to the Planning Commission meeting, to come to the City Council.You have the ability to come before all these groups, to be heard on what your opinions and concerns are.”

Email Vilia Zemaitaitis at vzemaitaitis@glendaleca.gov or Theresa Santilena at tsantilena@glendaleca.gov to subscribe to an email newsletter about progress on the zoning standards, to request information shared at the community meetings or to voice comments and concerns about the proposed standards.