The Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) will hear the proposed Firestone-Walker Brewery and the mixed-use project at 1414 Main St. Tuesday, 6:30 pm at the Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Both the Brewery and 1414 Main were heard in January by Land Use and Planning Committee (LUPC) along with Abbot Kinney Hotel. The crowd was so large, breaking all attendance records, it had to be moved into the gymnasium at the Oakwood Recreational Center. These are all scene changing projects for Venice.

Abbot Kinney Hotel, which was heard singularly at the February VNC meet, broke all records for attendance.

LUPC voted against 1414 Main unless certain design changes were made. Jason Teague, architect for the project, refused to make any more changes.

Firestone-Walker Brewery agreed to all the recommended conditions and agreed to submit a landscape plan for approval prior to the VNC meet.

Firestone-Walker Brew Pub

The Firestone-Walker brew pub is proposed for 3205 and 3223 Washington Blvd, former home to World Gym and Sizzler restaurant. The property consists of two buildings. The restaurant building is 8401 square feet and the two-story office is 4580. Both buildings sit on eight lots totaling 22,940 square feet. In addition there are three, R-1, 40- x 100-foot lots used for parking.

Firestone-Walker wants to brew beer (minimal amount) in the restaurant as well as sell their brand of beer and wine brewed and produced in central California. They also want off-site sales for the restaurant and the two-story office building. They will have a 207-seat restaurant and approximately 1000 square feet of retail space in the office building for logo products and offsite sale of beer. The remainder of the 4580 office building will be used for offices.

They will be applying for a Type 1 license per the Department of ABC. This license, according to Elizabeth Peterson Group representative Kiran Rishi states:

Authorizes the sale of beer to any person holding a license authorizing the sale of beer, and to consumers for consumption on or off the manufacturer’s licensed premises. Without any additional licenses, may sell beer and wine, regardless of source, to consumers for consumption at a bona fide public eating place on the manufacturer’s licensed premises or at a bona fide eating place contiguous to the manufacturer’s licensed premises. May conduct beer tastings under specified conditions (Section 23357.3). Minors are allowed on the premises.

71 parking spaces; Bike spaces
They will be providing 71 parking spaces. According to Update’s calculation, approximately 81 spaces should be required. It is assumed the remaining required spaces will be filled with bike parks or parking for 40 bikes. The Elizabeth Peterson Group representative Kiran Rishi has not made a comment regarding the extra spaces as of press time.

Note: Ordinance 182386 states that:
New or existing automobile parking spaces required by the Code for all uses may be replaced by bicycle parking at a ratio of one automobile parking space for every four bicycle parking spaces provided.

Also the 4500-square-foot office building, which requires 18 to 19 spaces, will be closed at 6 pm, providing spaces for the restaurant.

To provide the 71 spaces, tandem parking will be required in the R-1 lots on Carter. The revised master land use application instructions say there will be no valet, no charge for parking. The landscaping plans state on the three lots “A covenant and agreement to provide parking attendant is required.” Perhaps, it is an attendant who relies on tips or is paid by establishment.

11 am to 11 pm, midnight Friday and Saturday
Also the revised application now states the proposed operation will be 11 am to 11 pm, except Friday and Saturday, which will be 11 am to midnight. Kiran Rishi wrote when queried:

“Our hours of operation have been reduced since attending the VNC LUPC meetings. We are now requesting 11am-11pm Sunday-Thursday and 11am-12 midnight Friday-Saturday for the restaurant operations, and 11am-6pm daily for the retail operations.” Paperwork was provided for LUPC this week and information is posted on cityhood.org.

The landscape design will be shown at the VNC meet. The landscape does show the R-1 parking lots fenced with a 6-foot block wall on the west side of three lots, protecting the R-1 homes abutting the alley. Locking gates are also provided with ingress/egress facing the restaurant.

Latest landscape design. Complete parking lot is walled and gated.

The big issues concerning residents were/are: no valet parking, only free parking; adequate parking for workers and customers on site, not on the streets; R-1 Carter parking lots fenced to protect residents from noise and lights; operating hours of 11 to 11, not 11 to 2 am; no open patios.  Several have voiced their concerns regarding off-site sale of liquor.

1414 Main Street-Commercial and Residential

Rendering of 1414 Main at Horizon

Rendering of 1414 Main at Market

Note: Update asked Jason Teague, architect of project, to give the details for his project.

By Architect Jason Teague

We elected to move past the Land Use and Planning Committee (LUPC) because they were unable to handle the meetings in a professional nature. On three separate occasions, we were told we had 20 minutes to present our project, and all three times we were reduced to 5. We determined that it was a better use of our time to present directly to the VNC.

I have included a list of project benefits, details, and modifications that we have made since project inception, based on community feedback. Please let me know if you need anything else.

Project benefits:

1. Over 100 construction jobs, and over 80 permanent local jobs created.
2. 20% of the units are ON SITE and low income affordable. This is made possible through the use of SB1818 incentives.
3. Public open space. The courtyard will be a community benefit, and will improve the safety of the area through increased pedestrian traffic.
4. Community oriented clubhouse. This space will serve to host local groups, neighborhood functions, music and art performances, and also serve to raise awareness for the new automatic parking system.
5. Over 40% more parking than required. This completely safe, new parking system will result in less congested parking on the streets.
6. A higher density of residential units. More, smaller units result in rental and sale prices lower than will be found on residential lots where less density is allowed.

Project Details:

Lot size 14,051 SF (Five lots)

Four (4) for-sale commercial units (at street level)
1,745.5 sf restaurant
1,340.7 sf restaurant
967.3 sf retail space
861 sf public event space

26 residential units (above)
22 market rate
4 low-income

Unit Breakdown
18-2br / 5-1br / 3-studios
Average unit size = 982 square feet

Parking
Required – 153
Provided – 241
Provided (bicycle) – 32

Open Space
Required – 3,050 sf
Provided – 3,445 sf

Building Height
Maximum height per VSP – 35-feet
Maximum height after 12.22 A 25 Density Bonus incentive – 46- feet
Proposed height – 44-feet 9-inches for variable roof sections

Floor Area
Maximum Floor Area before 12.22 A 25 Density Bonus incentive–21,077 sf
Proposed Floor Area – 33,499 sf

Setback
Front –
Required – 0-feet commercial, 5-feet residential
Provided – 0-feet at all stories per 12.22 A 25 incentive

Side –
Required – 0-feet for all stories
Provided – 0-feet for all stories

Rear –
Required – 0-feet commercial, 15-feet residential
Provided – 7.5 feet residential per 12.22 A 25 incentive

Entitlement Requests:

1. Coastal Development Permit for new development in the Coastal Zone.
2. Tentative Tract Map to create 26 sellable residential units and 4 sellable commercial units.
3. Project Permit Compliance to determine conformance with the Venice Specific Plan.
4. Off-Menu Density Bonus Requests:

a. Allow a uniform building front with no residential stepbacks in lieu of the 5-foot residential stepback.
b. Allow a 7-foot rear yard in lieu of the required 17-foot rear yard (functions as a side yard)
c. Allow a maximum building height of 44-feet for flat roof sections and 44-feet 9-inches for variable roof sections in lieu of the 30- foot/35-foot height limit for flat/variable roofs.
d. Allow a Floor Area Ratio of 2.5:1 in lieu of the 1.5:1 Floor Area Ratio for the C2-1 Zone.

Project Design Modifications:
1. Removal of 5th Floor Roof Deck Access Vestibules.
2. Lowered height from 46 feet to 44 feet 9 inches, based on lowered commercial interior ceiling height.
3. Added fourth automatic parking inlet/ outlet bay, for a 33% increase in parking speed.
4. We have increased the existing alley width from 15 feet to 22.5 feet, to allow for large vehicle bi-directional traffic.
5. All alley utilities will be put underground.
6. All cuing area for automatic parking will be inside the building.
7. Non-emergency pedestrian alley access will be closed at 10 PM.
8. All employee parking will be located on site, as mandated by future CUPs with commercial operators