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Politics & Government

Temporary to Permanent—Laurel Park Up for a Vote

City Council will vote Monday whether to designate the temporary open space a permanent park, thereby ending plans to build affordable housing on the site.

Laurel Park, the pocket green space at 1343 N. Laurel Ave. that opened , is poised to become permanent.

An item on Monday’s City Council agenda, sponsored by Mayor John Duran and Mayor Pro Tempore Jeff Prang, would secure the park’s future and end the plan to build 28 units of affordable housing on the property.

“The discussion over 1343 Laurel was a very painful experience for all sides. It really felt like there was no room for compromise,” Duran told Weho Patch during an interview this week. “Given all the history of this location, the Supreme Court decision and the fact HUD funding has evaporated, I think it is best to put this behind us.”

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The news pleases , whose Save Tara campaign—named for the colonial-style estate on the property—fought the city’s affordable housing plans all the way to the Supreme Court and won. 

“I’m so relieved. I’m so happy about Tara actually becoming a park for all West Hollywood residents who need green space, trees and fresh air to breathe,” said Allison, who lived in the 97-year-old house for 27 years. “Now, the beautiful, historic house can come back to life and be a space for all of our artistic and expressive minds to thrive in.”

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The road to Tara

The history of 1343 Laurel Avenue is one as complicated as Gone with the Wind, the movie from which the house on the property takes its name. In 1997, property owner Elsie Weisman donated Tara to the city of West Hollywood with the stipulation that the city preserve the property and do no further development on the site.

However, Weisman only made those wishes known verbally. She did not put them down in writing as part of deed transfer. That lack of written instructions created years of legal battles over the property, despite the fact that late Councilman Sal Guarriello, who was mayor at the time of the transfer, verified in a 2006 council meeting that Weisman did indeed verbally stipulate the property had to be preserved.

But Guarriello’s statement did not come soon enough. By that point, the city had already received a $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to build affordable housing for low-income seniors on the site. The city planned to convert the house and chauffer’s cottage into seven apartments and build two additional buildings with 21 more apartments at the rear of the property.

Knowing this went against Weisman’s wishes, Allison spearheaded the Save Tara campaign, a campaign that ultimately filed two lawsuits against the city over the property.

Supreme Court weights in

One of those lawsuits made it all the way to the California Supreme Court, which ruled the city violated state law by not getting adequate public input before proceeding with the affordable housing plans. The city had already applied for the HUD grant before the first public hearing regarding the property was held; therefore the court ruled the public process was merely a justification for a pre-determined decision.

By the time the Supreme Court issued its ruling, the HUD grant had expired. However, the city continued with its plan for the affordable housing there, but was never able to raise the funds, so the lot sat fenced off for years until the temporary park opened six months ago in the house’s front yard.

Even though he is now pushing to make the park permanent, ironically, Duran initially supported the affordable housing plan for the site.

“A gentleman is allowed to change his mind,” said Duran who notes the original plans for historic preservation, green space and affordable housing were sound. “We’ve since added Sierra Bonita and other affordable housing in the city, but green space and historic preservation are still important.”

Visible shift in power on the council

Given that Councilman John D’Amico has indicated his support for the plan, the item looks guaranteed to pass. And that passage will be a highly symbolic indication that the balance of power on the council has changed.

“Elections have consequences,” said Duran. “The political playing field has shifted. There’s a new working council majority in power.”

For the past several years, Council members Abbe Land and John Heilman, along with former Councilwoman Lindsey Horvath, formed the majority on the council. The three tended to vote alike on most issues, including affordable housing at Tara.

Ever since D’Amico took his seat on the council in March, ousting Horvath, residents have been waiting to see the power shift begin to unfold. While there have been some low-profile council votes that indicated to those who follow City Hall closely that a new team was in power, no major vote has occurred. Monday’s vote will be the most high profile one since D’Amico joined the council. 

“I’m really hoping at some point the community heals itself,” Duran said. “I still feel the bitterness in the air from the .”

Future of the house

While the yard of the house will be a park, what happens with the house itself is still to be determined.

Allison is pushing to use it as a community center to host art showings, book readings and receptions. She suggests creating an artist-in-residence program funded through an area university like Cal Arts and converting some of the upstairs rooms into apartments for visiting artists.

“The artistic community could really use this house,” Allison said. “There are so many artists in this city, let’s make it a special space for them.”

The idea of holding wedding receptions there has also been mentioned frequently, but Duran’s not so sure that will work.  

“Weddings attract people and cars,” said Duran, noting that parking on the property is limited and street parking is tight. “Whatever we do with the property, we can’t impact the street parking significantly.”

Duran thinks the house might make a good place for 12-step recovery program meetings or possibly a historic archive.

Whatever the future use of the house turns out to be, the decision will ultimately be up to the city’s residents. Duran says the Historic Preservation and Public Facilities commissions will have to hold public hearings where residents can weigh in.

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