Court Orders Area Planning Commission To Reverse Boyle Heights Project Denial
The developer of a proposed 50-unit project in Boyle Heights will receive approvals for its project after working for three years to secure them and filing a lawsuit against the city.
The results of that lawsuit are ultimately what led to the positive turn for the project. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the city shouldn't have granted an appeal that prevented the project from advancing, Urbanize LA reported.
The court's ruling requires the East LA Area Planning Commission to approve the project. It is scheduled to review the project at its April 9 meeting.
The development at 2115-2123 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. will contain 50 apartments above about 4K SF of ground-floor retail space and underground parking. The developer, Tiao Properties, made use of development guidelines that allow larger projects because the developer included five units of extremely low-income affordable housing in the project.
Planning staff approved the project in 2023, but it was quickly appealed by a group of tenants who would be displaced by the project, which would demolish existing buildings on the site. The East LA Area Planning Commission voted, against city staff recommendations, to grant the appeal, and the developer took the commission to court.
In 2020, a similar story played out with the South LA Area Planning Commission, which rejected a 577-unit project and was later made to overturn that decision by the courts.
