The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission will decide Thursday whether Johnie's Coffee Shop is worth being considered a Historic-Cultural Monument.

Planning Department's Office of Historic Resources thinks the 57-year-old restaurant deserves the consideration and if the commission agrees on Thursday, the OHR staff will move forward on the proposal.

Built in 1956 and located at the northwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, the one-story restaurant exhibits "character-defining" features of Googie-style architecture, according to the staff report.

Johnie's (originally "Romeo's") opened in 1956. It was designed by Armet & Davis, the architectural firm that was "extremely influential" in the development of the Googie style and the California Coffee Shop. Beginning with their first coffee shop design in 1951, Armet & Davis designed several notable Googie coffee shops for chains such as Norm’s, Pann’s, Ship’s, as well as Denny’s and Big Boy.

Johnie's closed in 2000 but has been the setting for countless movies and TV shows, probably most notably The Big Lebowski and American History X. The coffee shop is owned by the company that owns the neighboring 99-Cent store, which uses it as an overflow parking lot.

The Cultural Heritage Commission has approved several restaurants and several Googie-style structures for Cultural-Heritage designation. It is scheduled to vote on the proposal Thursday. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Room 1010.

The designation is being sought by the LA Conservancy. Johnie's still needs several rounds of hearings and approvals (including ultimately City Council approval) before it can achieve the Historic-Cultural Monument designation.

Los Angeles Planning Department Case Tracking:
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=191704&caseNumber=CHC-2013-1538-HCM&fuseaction=case.summary

Office of Historic Resources staff report.

LA Conservancy "Important Issues" website: Johnie's Coffee Shop:
https://www.laconservancy.org/issues/johnies-coffee-shop

Wikipedia entry on Johnie's Coffee Shop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnie%27s_Coffee_Shop

The City Planning Commission will consider a proposal Thursday to allow a new 500-student charter school in a Del Rey business park.

Green Dot, the Los Angeles-based nationally recognized charter school operator, has requested a Conditional Use Permit to move its Westminster middle school to a two-story office building at the northeast corner of McConnell Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard in Del Rey.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are chartered by local school districts, county offices of education or the state to educate their students with their own, unique educational system. Many charter schools operate within existing school facilities, but the Los  Angeles Unified School District is so impacted that a large percentage of its charter schools must rent private space to operate. Green Dot says it has outgrown the space it currently shares on the campus of Cowan Elementary School in Westchester.

The proposal requires a Conditional Use Permit because operating a school is not a by-right use in the M2 zone, where the subject site is located. The project site is surrounded by light manufacturing uses to the north, east and west, and vacant land to the south that is zoned multi-family residential and commercial as part of the Playa Vista Area D Specific Plan.

The Del Rey Neighborhood Council voted to support the application after much discussion about the project's traffic impact on the neighborhood. The NC's first vote was to oppose the project as first proposed but to send the request back to its Land Use Committee for further discussion.

Former Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who was termed out of office this summer, told the Argonaut News in December that he supports the Conditional Use Permit request.  "I will definitely be speaking in favor of it, as long as there are no critical planning issues,” Rosendahl said. Newly elected Councilman Mike Bonin hasn't publicly stated his position on the project.

The City Planning Commission meets Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in the Public Works Board Room (#350), 200 N. Main Street, Los Angeles.

Argonaut News: Green Dot Charter school seeks relocation to light industrial area
http://argonautnews.com/del-rey-green-dot-charter-school-seeks-relocation-to-light-industrial-area/

Del Rey Neighborhood Council vote:
http://www.delreync.org/GreenDotRelocation

Del Rey Neighborhood Council Fact Sheet:
http://www.delreync.org/sites/default/files/Fact%20Sheet%2011-12-12_0.pdf

City Planning Commission agenda:
http://ens.lacity.org/pln/cityplnagenda/plncityplnagenda28583181_07112013.pdf

Planning Department electronic tracking: CPC-2012-2904-CU
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=189032&caseNumber=CPC-2012-2904-CU&fuseaction=case.summary

Three prominent South Valley homeowners groups filed appeals last week against the City Planning Commission's approval of a 325-unit condominium project near the 405-101 interchange.

The Coalition to Stop Il Villaggio Toscano opposes the project because of "massive traffic" and other environmental impacts it will have on the surrounding community.

The coalition was created by the Encino Property Owners Assn. (EPOA), Homeowners of Encino (HOME) and Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. (SOHA), three well-known and active homeowners groups in the South Valley. The coalition says it's not trying to kill the project, just to "actively reduce the size and scope of the project."

The project was originally proposed in 2004 to include 500 units, but the developer asked for and received approval for just 325 units at the CPC hearing last month.  The 8-story project will also include 55,000 square feet of commercial space, an outdoor plaza and approximately 1,200 parking spaces.

The project's Final EIR was published in January 2013.  The developer requested numerous entitlements, which were granted by the CPC, including a Zone Change, new Height District, and several exceptions to the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan. The project also has a Vesting Tentative Tract that was approved earlier this year by the city Planning Department.

Not every prominent group in the area opposed Il Villaggio Toscano. The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council voted in May 2012 to support the project, the Daily News reported.

The project will ultimately require City Council approval.

Appeal of CPC-2010-3152-ZC-HD-SPE-SPR-SPP-CUB-1A
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=192227&caseNumber=CPC-2010-3152-ZC-HD-SPE-SPR-SPP-CUB-1A&fuseaction=case.summary

Final Environmental Impact Report:
http://planning.lacity.org/eir/VillaggioToscano/FEIR/index.html

Coalition to Stop Il Villaggio Toscano
http://stopilvillagiotoscano.wordpress.com/

LADN: Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council approves 399-unit apartment development
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_20628452/sherman-oaks-neighborhood-council-approves-399-unit-apartment

In what is possibly the most overt action yet by a neighborhood council to oppose a proposed elder residence, the Winnetka Neighborhood Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday night "to discuss how the WNC will work to prevent the City Planning Commission from approving" a proposed 42-unit, 4-story senior living facility in its council district.

MDT Developers has requested a Zone Change to construct the 50-foot-tall mixed-use project at 20460 Sherman Way that will include 4,066 square-feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 42 ground floor parking spaces.

The Winnetka NC says it voted unanimously to recommend denial of the Sherman Way project to former Councilman Dennis Zine and the Planning Department. "(But) Councilmember Zine ignored our recommendation and supported the development," according to the WNC, which is scheduled to vote Tuesday on recommendations to either  send a "strongly worded letter to the (Planning) Commission,"  to request  support of the WNC position from new Councilman Bob Blumenfield, or "any other actions" the board decides.

This is just the latest elder residence that has drawn the ire of neighborhood councils, homeowners groups and others in the San Fernando Valley. Last week, the East Northridge Neighborhood Council voted on a measure to oppose a proposed elder-care facility in Northridge. And leaders of the Community Rights Foundation of Los Angeles, a Woodland Hills-based activist group, have helped "educate, organize, and provide sample appeals" to groups opposed to newly proposed elder-care facilities.

A public hearing was held on June 21 for the Sherman Way project so the Planning Department could receive public input. But the Zone Variance request has yet to to be scheduled on a South Valley Area Planning Commission agenda.

The WNC meets Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Valley Village, 20830 Sherman Way Blvd.

Winnetka NC Agenda (Tuesday, July 9):
http://ens.lacity.org/ensnc/winnetkanc/ensncwinnetkanc84583188_07092013.pdf

Planning Department electronic case tracking:
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=188579&caseNumber=APCSV-2012-2487-ZC&fuseaction=case.summary

CityWatch: "Eldercare Facility Ordinance Has Community Outraged"
http://www.citywatchla.com/8br-hidden/5208-ccfo-update-eldercare-facility-ordinance-has-community-outraged

A mixed-use project with 411 residential units and 43,800 square feet of retail space will cover both sides of half a city block in the Wilshire area if plans filed this week with the City Planning Department ultimately get approved by the City Council.

The project is the latest lare-scale Koreatown development from Christopher Pak, a Koreatown-born architect and developer described by the Los Angeles Times as " turning Koreatown into a testing ground for a vision of a dense, taller L.A."

The project is proposed for both sides of James M. Wood Boulevard east of Vermont Avenue. On the north side, the developer proposes 187 residential units and 18,000 square-feet of retail. On the south side of the street would be 224 units and 25,800 square-feet of retail.

The project is located within the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Project Area and a Los Angeles State Enterprise Zone, important designations which could allow for more dense development and a faster approval process. It is located in the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council area, on the eastern flank of Koreatown. The project is located primarily in Council President Herb Wesson's 10th District but its eastern edge is in Councilman Gilbert Cedillo's 1st District.

The project requires a General Plan Amendment, Zone Change and new Height District designation, which are entitlement requests that ultimately require approval from the City Council.

Pak is a "prominent campaign fundraiser," according to the Los Angeles Times, whose wife was appointed to the City Ethics Commission in December 2012 by Wesson. Pak raised money for Wesson, Cedillo and Mayor Eric Garcetti, among others, before the recent citywide elections, according to the Times.

The Planning and environmental cases were filed on Tuesday so it could be several months or more before the draft Mitigated Negative Declaration is published and the first hearing date is set for the entitlement requests.

Planning Department case:
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=192244&caseNumber=CPC-2013-1996-GPA-ZC-HD-SPR&fuseaction=case.summary

LA Times: A taller L.A.? He's making it happen
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/23/local/me-pak23

LA Times: Wesson's choice of fundraiser's wife for ethics panel criticized
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/20/local/la-me-wesson-ethics-20121220

The Northridge East Neighborhood Council is expected to vote tonight on a proposal to "disapprove" of a proposed elder-care facility in Northridge, the latest skirmish in a long-running battle over this specific project and elder-care facility proposals across the Valley.

The 3-story, 140-unit facility proposed for a 2.3-acre site at Parthenia Street and Shoshone Avenue received Zoning Administrator approval in April. But the case was appealed by  Tom Bramson, president of the Sherwood Forest Homeowners Assn., along with Colleen Marmor and Lisa Cerda of the Community Rights Foundation of Los Angeles.

Cerda wrote in a guest column on CityWatchLA.com that the ZA's approval was "fatally flawed, and could not withstand a judge’s review." She also claimed that Councilman Mitch Englander will soon introduce a motion that would "relieve the community of the burdensome Eldercare Facility Ordinance. " 

The NENC meets tonight at 7 p.m. in the Northridge Recreation Center, 18300 Lemarsh St. It should be noted that the NENC, like all neighborhood councils, does not have the authority to approve or deny an entitlement request such as the proposed elder-care facility. The NCs do serve an advisory role to the Planning Department and the council offices, however, on local land-use issues.

The appeal has not been scheduled with the North Valley Area Planning Commission yet.

Northridge East Neighborhood Council agenda:
http://ens.lacity.org/ensnc/northridgeastnc/ensncnorthridgeastnc241383075_07032013.pdf

LA Times:  Residents battle proposed Northridge elder-care complex
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/18/local/la-me-elder-care-20130318

Appeal of ZA-2012-3545-ELD-SPR-1A
http://planning.lacity.org/cts_internet/index.cfm?urlCaseId=191351&caseNumber=ZA-2012-3545-ELD-SPR-1A&fuseaction=case.summary