Design Review Board Votes to Support Proposed ‘Canyon Place’ Project

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

At its first hybrid meeting since the start of the pandemic, the Pacific Palisades Commercial Village and Neighborhoods Design Review Board voted at Rustic Canyon Recreation Center on Wednesday evening, October 25, to support a proposed project located between Chautauqua Boulevard and West Channel Road near Pacific Coast Highway.

The space where the proposed “Canyon Place” project would go, 148 Chautauqua Boulevard, is owned by longtime Palisadian Frank Langen, who acquired the land, as well as several unpermitted structures, following the death of the previous owner. Because the structures are unpermitted, the city considers the land vacant.

Langen is seeking “to allow the demolition of existing unpermitted structures and construction of a new two-story (12-foot, six-inches in height), 3,470-square-foot, mixed-use building with two office units over two residential units and solar structure over parking,” according to a presentation given during the meeting.

He is also seeking two exceptions regarding a floor area ratio of .75:1 instead of .5:1, citing during the presentation that the average for the area is .82, and the elimination of the requirement to be developed with a ground-floor retail use comprising of 75% “linear footage along a public street.”

“Slope and location along Chautauqua Boulevard make strict compliance infeasible,” the presentation noted about the retail requirement in the Specific Plan. “Proposed design works with the site condition and proposes office uses and residential uses, which generate fewer trips and are more appropriate given the proximity to the single-family neighborhood, with roof-top parking.”

As proposed, Canyon Place would only be accessible from Chautauqua Boulevard. Langen, the architects from BAM Construction and Design, and Susan Steinberg from Howard Robinson & Associates, which is navigating land use, explained that, following conversations with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, there would be no left turn in or out of the project.

The project is Coastal Act and Mello Act compliant, according to the presentation, with no impact on protected public views. Canyon Place would be permitted up to 68 square feet of signage and is currently proposed to have 31 square feet, including a building directory, “Canyon Place” sign and unit door signs.

Materials in the plans include a steel frame, with steel beams and columns to be painted in “metal fringe”; concrete walls, finished “smooth in natural gray color”; and steel railings, also to be painted in metal fringe. There will be aluminum doors and windows, galvanized steel louvers (also painted metal fringe) and spandrel glass panels.

Following the presentation, several neighbors spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting in favor of Canyon Place. Members of the Design Review Board posed several questions to Langen and the architects, including regarding some specifics of the landscaping, before voting unanimously to support the project as proposed.

Though a separate entity to the proposed Canyon Place project, Langen is also the owner of Canyon Square, which houses RustiCoffee, Canyon Grocer, and other tenants and pop-ups.

“I am overwhelmed by the multi-faceted support from the community, individually all the way up to the homeowners association, including BOCA and SMCC,” Langen told the Palisadian-Post. “The support of the community means a lot, and without it, I would not be able to follow through. I know with this extension to Canyon Square, we will experience continued community growth. I’m honored and humbled to be appreciated.”

The project will next head to a West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission hearing on December 6.