Ponte Vista is working with community facilitator Jim Oswald to conduct a second round of stakeholder interviews, small group meetings and public informational sessions. This additional outreach is part of a continuing effort to work with the Harbor Area communities to finalize a development plan for the Ponte Vista residential community.

Your views and opinions are important to us we move forward.  Jim has set up an email address where community members can reach him.  If you would like to share your views on Ponte Vista, you can email Jim directly at jimoswaldcomments@gmail.com.

Watch yourpontevista.com  for updates on dates and information on Ponte Vista public information sessions that will be held in early July and late July or early August.

The Daily Breeze reported in their June 4 article, “Ponte Vista Starts Interviewing Public,” that the LA Planning Commission asked us to bring back two plans on the Ponte Vista development reflecting different densities.

The actual LA Planning Commission Letter of Determination mailed to the community on May 5, 2009 states:

“Applicant and planning staff work together on a new Specific Plan that incorporates elements of the applicant’s revised concept and staff’ recommendations”

The goal of our continued outreach efforts and our work with the LA planning staff is to develop and present one plan to the Commission that balances staff’s recommendations, community input, and achieves our goal of providing senior housing, housing for working families, and lower density townhomes and courtyard homes in an environmentally sustainable community.

Ponte Vista developers conducting new round of community talks

A new round of one-on-one community interviews were launched Wednesday as developers of San Pedro’s proposed Ponte Vista housing project attempt to rework their plan to win city approval.

“We’re now embarking on what the (Los Angeles) Planning Commission asked us to do, which is to work with the community and come back with a revised plan,” said Jim Oswald, the facilitator who will conduct some 25 meetings with residents and community leaders over the next several days.

Planning commissioners denied the developer’s former plan to build 1,950 homes on a 62.5-acre site on Western Avenue at a meeting in April.

Commissioners asked the developer to bring back two viable plans in three months. One plan is to show a development with 775 to 886 homes. The other is to show 1,395 housing units, which the developer more recently proposed as the alternative to 1,950 homes.

The parties are expected back before the Los Angeles Planning Commission on Aug. 13.

Oswald said the developer also will sponsor two public open houses in July to get more feedback from the community at large.

Earlier this year, Oswald conducted an initial round of interviews, followed by open houses leading up to the April Planning Commission meeting.

Doug Epperhart, a neighborhood council activist, was among those interviewed Wednesday by Oswald. He said traffic and density are still the major issues.

“You can throw out statistics, but anyone who has sat through four red lights on Western Avenue is not going to believe you,” Epperhart said. “The real question is where between 1,395 and 500 or 800 (homes) do we land?”

Traffic issues and proposed traffic improvements along with the density and design of the project will all be on the table at the sessions, Oswald said.

“Obviously there are some of the very same concerns from the first go-around and a real interest in mitigating traffic,” Oswald said. “That’s the big one.”

Ponte Vista has been the source of often contentious debate in the community since developer Bob Bisno purchased the surplus Navy land for $125 million and rolled out plans in July 2005 calling for 2,300 homes.

Supporters say the project would bring needed housing stock - including units set aside for those 55 and older - to San Pedro.

Critics say traffic on Western Avenue will become even worse than it is now.

The downturn in the economy has no doubt also affected plans by the developers, although they are still moving forward.

“I think the idea is that the developer wants to keep the project moving to the extent that it can,” Oswald said.

(San Pedro, CA) Ponte Vista Partners, LLC will once again work with community facilitator Jim Oswald to conduct a second round of stakeholder interviews, small group meetings and public informational sessions. This additional outreach is part of a continuing effort to work with the Harbor Area communities to finalize a development plan for the Ponte Vista residential community. The plan will be presented to the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission on Thursday, August 13, 2009. 

During its public hearing for Ponte Vista on April 9, 2009, the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission directed the developer of Ponte Vista and the City of LA Planning Staff to work together on a compromise plan that “incorporates elements of the applicant’s revised concept and staff’s recommendations.” The commission set the date of August 13th to hear back from Ponte Vista and planning staff on the plan.

Oswald will interview key community leaders and stakeholders in June and conduct a series of group and public informational sessions in June and July. The public informational sessions will feature presentations and discussions on key topics of interest to Harbor Area community members. Information gathered from the sessions will help the Ponte Vista development team evolve the land use concept and prepare the compromise plan to be reviewed at the August Planning Commission meeting. Informational session topics may include traffic issues and proposed traffic improvements; housing types, density and design; and sustainable community design/open space.

Individual interviews and small group meetings will include neighborhood council presidents, board members and land use chairs, chamber of commerce leaders, homeowner association leadership, business leaders and residents living and doing business close to the proposed Ponte Vista community, and members of Councilwoman Hahn’s 2008 Ponte Vista Citizens Advisory Committee. Second round interviews will include individuals who have both opposed and supported the project and have been engaged with the Ponte Vista process over the past three years.

Key components of the current Ponte Vista Land Use Concept (based in large part on the first round of community outreach) include:

• A Senior Village for active seniors with its own pool, clubhouse and on-demand shuttle service in a secure environment
• Condominiums for first-time home buyers, young professionals and working families
• Workforce housing for teachers, firefighters, police officers and nurses
• More row and courtyard townhomes (two-thirds of the site is dedicated to townhomes)
• Neighborhood-serving retail for Ponte Vista residents and the surrounding community
• Access to Mary Star of the Sea High School from Western Avenue
• An environmentally sensitive community featuring water conservation measures including water reclamation systems and drought tolerant landscaping;  a focus on healthy environment and reducing waste; and energy efficient systems and appliances
• A two-acre village green and dedicated community open space that includes walking trails and bike paths
• A commitment to good paying union construction jobs through a Project Labor Agreement
• Traffic improvement funding for synchronized traffic signals and acceleration/deceleration turn lanes in front of shopping centers on Western Avenue to improve the flow of traffic, which will be in place before new residents move into Ponte Vista

The Ponte Vista development team is looking forward to continuing outreach efforts with Jim Oswald to engage with the community to create a vibrant neighborhood that delivers a responsible, sustainable and reasonable development that is responsive to the needs of the Harbor Area.

About Ponte Vista

Ponte Vista is a new residential community being proposed for a 62-acre site located on Western Avenue in San Pedro. Ponte Vista features a mixed-income, multi-generational community with senior housing, and row and courtyard homes for move-up buyers, and housing for working families in a green, sustainable community. DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners is developing Ponte Vista. Ted Fentin, principal, of DLJ is leading the development team.

About Jim Oswald

Jim Oswald is a professional facilitator with Gensler, a global architecture, design, planning and consulting firm. Oswald brings 25 years of experience in designing, managing and facilitating strategic planning and community outreach programs for a wide range of public, private, non-profit and institutional clients.  He has successfully worked on dozens of land use and transportation projects across the United States.

Earlier this week, the City of Los Angeles Planning Department released a Letter of Determination outlining the Planning Commission’s actions on Thursday, April 9th at the public hearing on Ponte Vista. 

At that hearing, the Ponte Vista development team withdrew its request for 1,950 homes and presented a revised Land Use Concept featuring senior housing, townhomes and courtyard homes for move-up and middle-income buyers, and housing for working families in an environmentally sustainable development.  The overall number of homes presented in the revised Land Use Concept for Ponte Vista was 1395, nearly 30% less than the previous project (1,950 units), with a substantially reconfigured unit mix. 

As requested by Ponte Vista and City planning staff, the Planning Commission denied the 1,950 unit plan and directed the developer and the planning staff to work together on a compromise plan that “incorporates elements of the applicant’s revised concept and staff’s recommendations.”

The Ponte Vista development team is very encouraged by the Planning Commission’s direction and the spirit of cooperation indicated in the Letter of Determination.  The team is excited to begin working with the planning department and the communities of the Harbor Area to move forward with a compromise plan that creates a beautiful new mixed-income, multi-generational neighborhood with significant public benefits, such as traffic improvements on Western Avenue, a 2-acre Village Green, retail shops, walking trails and bike paths, a Project Labor Agreement, and access to Mary Star of the Sea High School. 

In the weeks ahead, the team will continue its on-going community outreach and continue to solicit feedback on a revised plan to present to the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission on August 13th, 2009.

The development team wishes to once again thank everyone who has worked so hard to help shape the vision of Ponte Vista for the benefit of the entire community.