Proposed multi-unit development on a narrow street that was designed with a complete disregard for the character of the street and how it faces its neighbors. The owner bought this property shortly after the fire — an outside investor, not a neighbor rebuilding their life — and is using State Bill 9 to develop a fourplex including a garage with a 651 square foot "storage" space above. This garage and its storage space could be converted very easily into a 5th unit and exceeds the maximum Gross Square Area (GSA) for this property. This could mean potentially 10 cars (if each family has 2 cars) or possibly more (with visitors), parked on a street so narrow  that a single parked car reduces it to one lane of traffic. This is not rebuilding. This is opportunism — and it puts every one of us at risk.

Address of Concern: 411 Punahou Street Altadena, CA. 91001

Primary Concern: Fire safety, emergency access, and evacuation capacity, as well as the complete disregard for the preservation of a single family residential architectural character. It is not in compliance with the Altadena Community Standards District (CSD) in terms of GSA requirements and required "Architectural Elements." 

Summary

We are residents and stakeholders concerned about a proposed high-density residential development on Punahou Street.   Our street is so narrow that a parked car on either side reduces it to one lane of traffic — enough for only one car to pass at a time — making emergency vehicle access already dangerously compromised before adding up to 10 or more additional vehicles from a single development. This street lies within a high-fire hazard area impacted by the Eaton Fire.

Who Is Directly Affected: Four of our neighbors' homes directly border this development from just one adjacent address, but our neighbors across the street and off of Marengo Avenue- a major thoroughfare - will all be affected. The surrounding residents are all reconsidering whether they should rebuild or sell as they will bear the brunt of this project’s impact on parking, access, and safety.

The drawings for the project may be found HERE.  The current owner has listed this property for sale with the eventually permitted plans HERE where the owner advertises the project as having 5 units even though SB-9 only permits 2 single family residences with 2 ADUs.

The community of Altadena has suffered enough and should not have to live with the repercussions of projects that exploit the merits of State Bill 9 for profits, constructing unattractive and low-quality buildings across Altadena. This particular project is designed with a 2 car garage with 651 square feet of "storage" over the garage. This will inevitably be converted into a 5 unit, 5,607 SF building on a 6,875 SF parcel. This means that possibly 10 or more cars (2 per household) will be parked on our already congested street.   This raises extremely serious concerns regarding:

• compliance with GSA and Architectural Elements per the Altadena Community Standards District (CSD)
• emergency vehicle access
• evacuation bottlenecks during wildfire events
• traffic and infrastructure strain (this is in the Las Flores Water Company zone one of the hardest-hit areas during the Eaton Fire, where residents experienced severe water pressure failures at the height of the disaster.

We support responsible rebuilding but not at the expense of public safety. We support the merits of SB9 to help relieve our housing crisis but not at the expense of our neighbors trying to rebuild their lives on Punahou Street. 

What We Are Requesting:

We respectfully ask Los Angeles County to

• Conduct a formal Fire Department review of emergency vehicle access and evacuation capacity on Punahou Street before any permits are approved.
• Evaluate the project for fire access (not only from the street but access onto the property should several cars be parked in tandem) and evacuation safety.
• Evaluate this project against the Altadena CSD for compliance with GSA and Architectural Elements.
• Establish an Altadena Design Review Committee made up of volunteers from the community who are professionals in the fields of design, engineering and construction to review all multi-family projects in an R-1 Zone.
• Apply the "specific adverse impact to public safety" standard
• Ensure full environmental and infrastructure review.
• Mandate adequate parking solutions to curb the overflow of vehicles onto smaller streets, ensuring smoother traffic and heightened safety for all residents.

Altadena is healing. We ask that rebuilding be done with care, not opportunism.

We can't allow rebuilding projects to compromise the integrity and safety of our beautiful Altadena for profit. Please sign this petition to protect the character, safety, and livability of Altadena.