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DEEGAN ON LA—-Like a dormant volcano suddenly erupting and sending lava flows directly into the heart of a vibrant community, City Hall has plans that infer they are choosing a developer over long-standing neighborhood interests.
Left out of the loop, but now aware of the threat to them, the community is voicing their objection to what, until very recently, has been a deal being made in the secret shadows of City Hall.
It’s not a garden variety NIMBY protest by the community; it’s a garden’s bounty that they are fighting to protect. The Larchmont Village Farmers Market has long occupied space in city-owned surface parking lot at 209 N Larchmont Boulevard (City Parking Lot 694).
It’s as if a sacred space is being closed. “It’s our Town Square, the emotional heart of the community. There are three key pillars of that space: a place where the community can hold special events, the home of our beloved, decades old, twice-weekly Famers’s Market, and an easily accessible parking lot. It's irreplaceable” Sam Uretsky, President of Larchmont United Neighborhood Association (LUNA), told CityWatchLA.
The stakes are high: if developer Ron Simms’s Larchmont Properties Ltd prevails the market would disappear. The community is responding to a call to arms for what they see as a threat of community busting of a cherished, traditional and valuable space where generations of the community have gathered.
Despite any other open space being visibly available on the boulevard, developer Simms recently declared without evidence that “Larchmont means a lot to me. It’s not just another property — it’s part of the fabric of the community. There will always be space for the Farmers Market and community gatherings. Those traditions aren’t going anywhere.”
However, the option of partial or full street closures as a substitute for the parking lot have the potential to disrupt and damage the retail businesses on Larchmont by making them harder to access and on a regular bi-weekly basis.
An overflow, standing room crowd of community members attended a Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Land Use committee meeting two days ago to hear from the developer’s representative and a CD 13 deputy.
Committee chair Brian Curran told City Watch that “The future of Lot 694, Larchmont Boulevard’s Town Square, is of the utmost concern to communities of Greater Wilshire particularly Windsor Square and Larchmont Village. The alarming news that this lot might be developed as part of shady backroom deal is outrageous. The Land Use Committee urges the GWNC Board and CD13 Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez to stand with our communities and work together to prevent the loss of this essential public space and the displacement of the weekly Larchmont Farmers’ Markets.”
In the mix are Beverly Hills based Simms Development, owner of several Larchmont Village parcels; the City that has a complex and murky transaction with the developer involving surface and below ground parking lots; a cherished community asset farmers market and event space, and now an awakened community.
A comprehensive description of the multi-decade and complicated development transaction between the developer Simms and City Hall can be found at this link.
The repercussions ripple outward from the targeted parking lot into the tributaries that surround it such as Windsor Square, Hancock Park and Larchmont Village. These residents are whom the city and developer are hearing from.
A spokesperson for Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez (CD13) told CityWatchLA “We were able to get the Board of Transportation Commissioners to continue this item for one month to give the Larchmont community more time to make their voices heard”.
They added that “We’re encouraging constituents to attend the Board of Transportation Commissioners hearing on November 13 at 10AM at City Hall, and to reach out to our Community Development & Planning Director at [email protected] so we can stay in touch with everyone who wants to engage on this issue.”
The Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners is a seven-member board appointed by the Mayor that oversees transportation and parking matters for the city. As was pointed out at the meeting, the Commission is an advisory” body, they cannot create legislation. That’s up to CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez.
Anecdotal comments from the public were that the Councilmember has visited the Farmers Market and has personally shopped there. His deputy Emma Howard, who cast sunlight onto the dark developer deliberations, attended and helped explain how to frame next seps to take.
Concerned residents can immediately send Commissioners an email using this format.
Separately, it was noted that the community can call directly to developer Ron Simms, at (310) 246-0885, to urge him to save the farmer’s market. He can also be reached by mail at 9320 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300, Beverly Hills, CA, 90212.
Larchmont Village is already facing a change of scale when high rise housing enters the picture at the Beverly Boulevard intersection with Larchmont Boulevard that is eligible for multi-story buildings because it is in a TOD (Transit Oriented Density) zone, that refers to the goal of increasing housing density around public transit stops.
Like TOD, the squeeze on the farmers market parking lot is another quality of life concern for the community.
Windsor Square Association President Larry Guzin reminded the assembled community members that his group’s homes surround Larchmont Village on three sides. He promised emphatically that his community would “fight” the loss of the parking lot.
Hancock Park Homeowners Association President Cindy Chvatal-Keane told CityWatch "Neighborhoods matter! Our neighborhood groups have worked together for years to build community and improve the quality of life for all our residents, including on many land use issues that impact all of us as a whole, connected neighborhood.”
Chvatal-Keane gave these examples of how the community worked together to preserve the nature of their community: “Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, Melrose/Seward developments, Pawn Shop Sports Bar Conditional Use Permit, Livable Community Initiative, ED 1 developments and State Land Use Bills i.e. SB79 and now they are pulling together to save the farmers market parking lot”.
The Hancock Park community-focused groups include the Hancock Park Homeowners Association, the Windsor Square Association, the Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association (LUNA), the Larchmont Boulevard Association, and the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.
(Tim Deegan is a longtime civic activist and columnist whose Deegan on LA feature has been a staple of CityWatchLA for over a decade. With a focus on Los Angeles city politics and neighborhood issues, Deegan brings thoughtful analysis and grassroots perspective to every column. His work highlights the voices of local communities and the impact of City Hall decisions on everyday Angelenos. He can be reached at [email protected].)
