We Need to Talk About ED1
6901 Woodman has been marked for redevelopment into a 55-unit, 100-percent-affordable building.
That’s a good thing, right?
Well…it’s going to create a problem, and I have some questions about how we got to this point.
6901 Woodman currently consists of four empty units, and it doesn’t look especially kept up (although the last code enforcement record is from 2018). I’m VERY curious as to how long it’s been empty.
It’s not an Ellis Act property, at least, so I’m hoping that it was gradually emptied by natural attrition of tenants. However, depending on when tenants move, that might take even longer than the minimum 5-year period required by the Ellis Act. (Can any neighbors offer some insight?)
The proposed 5-story building would benefit from ED1, which I’ve raised concerns about previously. Specifically, I’m not a fan of omitting, or even skimping on, site plan review. While I believe ED1 is well-intentioned, site plan review exists for a good reason: to spot potential problems before it’s too late to fix them.
And there’s a big potential problem: NO - ZERO - PARKING.
There are bus stops in the area, but no light rail, and the Orange Line park-and-ride is closed until 2027 for construction (and no one will be surprised if it takes longer than that).
How many transit riders, or even avid bicyclists, are realistically going to live in this building? The Valley is mostly spread out, and it’s really not reasonable to expect all the potential tenants to just live without a car.
I’ve been saying it for years (way too many times to link it here): Refusing to provide parking will NOT force Angelenos to give up their cars. Until and unless mass transit is connected enough, fast enough, safe enough, clean enough, and reliable enough, MOST Angelenos are going to keep driving.
Case in point: Redditor r/shiftersix comments “If I theoretically moved here, it would take me 25 minutes to get to work by car without traffic. It would take me 2 hours and 5 minutes to do the same with public transport if I can't keep my car. What were they thinking?”
And according to people familiar with the area, street parking is ALREADY a challenge.
So what IS the developer thinking? Probably about money and incentives, not future tenants. They don’t live there, so why would they care? (I would care if I was building something, but unfortunately I’m not.)
Regular readers know that I have firsthand experience with parking issues from my days of managing apartments (and from living in Santa Monica). For the rest of you:
This is a recipe for fights, vehicle vandalism, double parking, and blocking other buildings’ driveways or flat-out stealing their spaces. It is GOING to be a mess. And, as a woman who lives alone, I personally would not feel comfortable parking God only knows how many blocks away and walking home alone in the dark. Or, depending on the time of year, walking to my car in the dark.
I’m also curious as to why there are NO family-sized apartments planned for this building. Oh, wait - you can rake in more rent money with four studios than you can with one three-bedroom unit. But seriously, low-income families ALSO need places to live.
There isn’t always going to be a perfect solution to a problem, but adding density without adding any parking in Van Nuys sure as hell isn’t it.