Building Trades News

San Pedro Mixed Used Project Would Build Much-Needed Workforce Housing

Hundreds of community and union members turned out to a Los Angeles City Planning Department meeting on June 26 to speak in support of the proposed Ponte Vista development, a 1,950 unit, mixed used project in San Pedro. The public hearing which took place at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium auditorium in San Pedro, allowed the city's planning department to take public comment on the project. The developer, Bisno Development Corporation, needs city approval to change the current zoning on the property, which is presently limited to single-family homes.

The project would create an estimated 1,825 construction jobs and $126 million in salaries over seven years under a Project Labor Agreement with the Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council.

"We look forward to working with Ponte Vista to build a neighborhood that will not only provide good paying union jobs but will also provide housing for our union families who might choose to live in the community they helped to build," said Richard Slawson, Executive Secretary of the LA/OC Building and Construction Trades Council. "This is the kind of the well-designed, well planned, traffic mitigated project we can get behind."

The project is a proposed mixed-use, mixed-income community that would build approximately 1,950 housing units on 61 acres of land off Western Avenue in San Pedro. The site is a deserted former Navy housing complex bought by Bisno Development in 2004. The project has been scaled down from the 2,300 units proposed by Bisno three years ago.

The development is designed to provide housing that is affordable to seniors and middle-income and single-income families. Ponte Vista will dedicate 850 or 44 percent of the units to senior housing, and 20 percent of the units will be priced for middle-income families. Under the Harbor Area Residents First program, there will be a 5 percent discount for police, fire fighters, teachers, nurses and union families.
In addition to the construction jobs created, supporters of the project stated that the project would create approximately 1,465 jobs in Los Angeles County and 915 jobs in the City of Los Angeles. Supporters also say that the project would result in a net increase in tax revenue for the City of over $5 million per year.

The project has received support from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and ILWU Local 13. Both organizations have praised the project for its plan to create thousands of middle class jobs and to provide affordable housing to hard working families in the South Bay region.

"This is housing for the workforce. Fire fighters, nurses, police officers, longshoremen, teachers, middle class workers make up the fabric of communities like San Pedro," said Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of labor, "They should not have to commute from out of town. They should be able to live here in San Pedro."

The project would also include 25 acres of open space and a three permanent regulation baseball fields for the currently homeless Eastview Little League.

The project faces opposition from homeowners. LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn also opposes the current project as proposed by Bisno. She stated she is in favor of project being built on the site under a Project Labor Agreement but that she does not support Ponte Vista project as proposed citing its high density and impact on area traffic.

In order to address the traffic concerns voiced by area residents, Bisno has pledged $8 million dollars of traffic mitigation upfront, and a $1 million trust fund for post-construction mitigation if traffic exceeds projections.

In its final environmental impact report, LA city planners said the increased traffic along Western would be offset by improvements that the developer has promised to make. Those include traffic signal synchronization and constructing turn-out access lanes for eight of the shopping centers south of the project on Western.

Bisno Development, for now, remains committed to building 1,950 homes. "We think that 1,950 is a really good density for a number of reasons," Abshez said. "You need a sufficient number of units if you want to have a project with a quality design and quality amenities."