Panel OKs Pico Shopping Center Plans

Controversial plans for an $80-million Pico district shopping center with a Home Depot stacked atop a Costco won approval Thursday from the Los Angeles Planning Commission.

The project will sit on 11.9 acres between Pico, San Vicente and West boulevards. It also will include an MTA bus terminal, a McDonald’s, a self-storage facility and a 1,478-car parking structure.

The Planning Commission approved the proposal after a four-hour public hearing at which about 50 residents voiced concerns.

Those worries ranged from the aesthetics of the project to a 1992 Metropolitan Transportation Authority report noting the presence of methane and other flammable gases at the now-vacant site. But many said the project would be an improvement over the blighted lot.

The height and design of the 444,000-square-foot Home Depot/Costco building, a scarcity of landscaping and the increased traffic the project will bring have been sticking points since members of five neighborhood groups began talks with the developer last year.

The developer, LCOR Public/Private Inc., lowered the building height from 71 to 65 feet and agreed to add more hedges.

Residents won a crucial battle when the developer also was required to set aside $300,000 to pay for traffic signals, signs or speed bumps after Pico Plaza opens. What is left in the fund after two years will be refunded, officials said.

The Planning Commission’s unanimous decision is final unless it is appealed to the City Council.

“I think the meeting came out well,” said Coy Sallis, a duplex manager looking forward to having a nearby supplies store. “Whenever we need something, we have to go all the way to Hollywood.”

But not all residents were happy.

“It’s pretty much a defeat,” said Maggie Parr of the Rimpau Neighborhood Alliance, which opposed a main entrance likely to funnel traffic onto Rimpau Boulevard.

Representatives from the offices of Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Nate Holden, whose district includes the project site, were at the meeting to support the project, which is scheduled to receive $8.9 million in city subsidies and is expected to generate about $1 million in annual tax revenues.

Pico Plaza is expected to open in about 18 months.