As townhome project looms, neighbors fail to get answers

The Downey Planning Commission is expected to consider a developer’s plan to replace Lord’s Grace Assembly Church with 33 townhomes.

DOWNEY — Residents living near a controversial townhome project are expressing their frustration as a public hearing on the project continues to be delayed.

The project, located at 7360 Foster Bridge Rd. and developed by Olson Homes, will see the demolition of the Lord’s Grace Assembly Church and the construction of a new 33-unit condominium project.

Each home will range from 1,188 to 1,792 square feet, located within four separate buildings. It includes three affordable-housing units.

Residents living on The Island neighborhood where the project is located and in the surrounding neighborhoods have expressed concerns with the project, fearing the area will be too densely populated and cause increased traffic congestion.

Brian Chambers lives on the west side of Horley Avenue. He explained that the area already suffers from traffic struggles.

“My main concern is the increase in traffic, of course,” said Chambers. “The traffic on Suva, especially in the high-traffic times, they’re just really bad. I think the main part is in my proximity to the stop sign on Horley - and maybe the lack of traffic on Horley - that the line of cars that roll through the stop sign leaves exactly the perfect little gap that prevents me from getting out of my driveway.

“There’s literally 20, 30 cars at a time waiting, going through that stop sign, and if there’s no traffic on Horley, I get a steady line of cars, sometimes for up to 30, 40 minutes; especially when the school zones let out.”

Yolanda Harrison Anderson, a homeowner living on The Island, said she is primarily concerned about “an increase in the density of the area.” She said, “it’s not a good place to put that many townhomes.”

“That lot is fairly small, and I know that they’re asking for… the ability to not have enough parking for all of the residents that they build for,” said Anderson. “Right now, Bluff [Road] and Foster Bridge [Boulevard] are no-parking, and I don’t know if that’s going to change.”

“Foster Bridge is a very narrow road and it’s not going to have enough space for cars to drive down if you have cars parking on either side.”

The Planning Commission was scheduled to review the project at its meeting Wednesday but it was continued to a future date, potentially as early as March 6. The item had previously been slated for discussion and potential approval on Feb. 7.

Adrienne Osezuera, a resident of The Island who has attended previous Planning Commission meetings to speak out against the project, described the delays as “very frustrating.”

“It’s very frustrating because we want answers; we want to be updated with the plan with the city,” Osezuera. “We’re frustrated. A lot of the neighbors are frustrated.”

Chambers believes the meeting delays are intentional.

“I personally feel that they’re changing it and rescheduling it and rescheduling it to confuse when the meeting is actually going to be so not a lot of people show up to protest it,” said Chambers.

Anderson said that she feels the Planning Commission “is playing around with homeowners.”

“They want to push it back and frustrate us to the point that we don’t show up, and then they just push through what they want to do,” said Anderson.

She also believes the project will be approved regardless of residents’ concerns.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I know the Planning Commission is going to do what they want, because that’s what Downey does,” Anderson said. “The Planning Commission doesn’t care about the residents; they will push through what they want to push through. They have subdivided lots, put in horrible-looking townhomes that don’t keep with the aesthetic of the city.

“I think this is just their way of kind of giving us a voice, but really in the end, they’re going to do what they want.”

Planning Commissioner Mario Guerra encouraged residents to “feel comfortable and ask all the questions.”

“If I was the residents of The Island, I would be totally concerned until you find out more information,” said Guerra.

He added that he has seen and heard residents’ concerns. On the project being pushed to a future meeting, he said he “felt bad for the residents.”

“I’d want to know – one way or the other – what’s going to happen in my neighborhood if I were them,” he said.