ALHAMBRA — A nonprofit environmental group is asking a judge to set aside the City Council’s finding that a Studio City apartment project near the Los Angeles River can go forward with an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act.
The development includes a six-story building featuring nearly 130 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments above a two-level, 145-car underground parking garage on Arch Drive, just north of Ventura Boulevard and west of Vineland Avenue.
On Dec. 5, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted to deny an appeal by the petitioner, the Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, and upheld the Planning Commission’s determination that the project falls under a category of CEQA exemptions in which a development is determined to not have a significant environmental impact.
Eight days later, the City Council voted to uphold the PLUM Committee’s denial of the group’s appeal.
But according to the nonprofit’s Alhambra Superior Court petition filed Jan. 24, the project’s construction and operation would expose residential and commercial tenants to cancer-causing formaldehyde emissions. In addition, construction would produce diesel particulate matter emissions, a known human carcinogen, above applicable CEQA significance thresholds, the petition states.
The project’s height also would exceed limitations and would conflict with the Los Angeles River Master Plan’s goal to promote and encourage habitat corridors, including those of birds, the petition maintains.
A representative for the City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The petitioners want the project approval set aside until it is brought into compliance with CEQA guidelines. No hearing dates have yet been set by Judge Joel Lofton, who has been assigned the case.
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