Plan for Apartments on Culver Blvd. Rejected

A proposal to build apartments on the railroad right of way down the center of Culver Boulevard has been rejected by a Los Angeles City Council planning committee that overruled approval by the Planning Commission.

The plan to construct an 82-unit apartment complex on a 60-foot-wide median between Inglewood and Sawtelle boulevards was found to be inconsistent with community and transportation plans for the area.

About 45 people urged the committee, during a City Hall hearing, to prevent the developers, Watt/Parker Inc. and Oliver A. Trigg Jr., from building on the median strip. The strip runs between a narrow access road, commonly referred to as “Little Culver Boulevard,” on the north and Culver Boulevard on the south.

Traffic Problems Cited

Residents cited traffic congestion and parking problems if the apartments were constructed on the right of way.

“It’s like throwing a chunk of meat into an already choking neck,” a resident said.

The Palms-Mar Vista-Del Rey Community Plan and the Coastal Transportation Corridor Specific Plan call for Culver Boulevard to be improved into a major highway to alleviate present and future traffic flow problems.

A major highway requires a width of 80 to 84 feet with 10-foot borders on each side of the road.

‘We Have a Good Project’

Residents argued that apartments in the middle of the street would prevent widening it beyond its present two lanes.

A spokesman for the developers asked the committee members if the city wants to acquire the right of way for road improvements.

“If the city does not, we want to develop on it,” he said. “We think we have a good project there.”

The construction of the 82-unit apartment complex is Phase I of a proposed development along the 1- mile section of Culver Boulevard between McConnell and Sawtelle boulevards.

The section was purchased from the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. for $4.5 million. The application for the second phase between Inglewood and McConnell boulevards was denied by the city’s planning commission in September, 1985.

The proposed development would be financed by state funds earmarked to house people displaced by the Century Freeway.