A public hearing this week on a controversial housing development on Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights has been canceled.
The hearing by the East Los Angeles Area Planning Commission was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 9, and would focus on a six-story, mixed-use development that Tiao Properties has sought to build on East Cesar Chavez Avenue and North Chicago Street.
The development would include five stories of apartment units, a ground floor for retail use and an underground parking garage. Five of the 50 apartment units are to be set aside for affordable housing, while the rest would be at market rate.
The Los Angeles Planning Department said in an email to Boyle Heights Beat that the hearing, which was to take place at the Ramona Hall Community Center, “was canceled due to a delay in the issuance of a court order.”
Last year, the East Los Angeles Area Planning Commission voted against the housing proposal, arguing that the project could lead to gentrification that would be harmful to the public health of residents.
However, an L.A. County Superior Court judge recently issued a judgment stating that the city “acted in bad faith … in connection with its disapproval of the project,” and is ordering the commission to reverse its decision and approve the proposed housing development.
This decision comes nearly a year after Tiao Properties sued the city of L.A. in June, arguing that blocking the project based on a perceived threat of gentrification doesn’t meet the legal standards under the Housing Accountability Act, a California law that addresses the state’s housing shortfall.
“At present time, Los Angeles City Planning only has the final judgment, which orders a writ to be issued. The Department is awaiting the court’s issuance of the writ of mandate,” the city’s emailed statement read.
The city’s planning department said it will send out a new hearing notice once the meeting is rescheduled.
