After two hours of public comment and a failed motion to advance the project, a short-handed city commission voted Thursday to extend its discussion into next month on a proposed USC health research facility in northeast Los Angeles.
The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to continue its deliberations next month on whether to approve the project, as well as a recommendation to grant a conditional-use permit.
USC is seeking to develop a seven-story multi-discipline research facility called the USC Discovery and Translation Hub Building on the west part of its Health Sciences Campus, located along 1590 N. Eastlake Ave.; 1425-1501 N. San Pablo St.; and 1540-1580 E. Alcazar St.
As part of the project, USC is seeking a conditional use permit — a type of exception to the local zoning ordinance that allows a property owner to use the property in certain ways that do not comply with the current land use rules — to increase the project’s floor area to about 201,292 square feet.
During Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting, a motion to approve the project and the permit failed on a 3-2 vote, with only five of the commission’s nine members in attendance — Elizabeth Zamora, Samantha Millman, Monique Lawshe, Maria Cabildo, and Helen Leung.
Cabildo and Leung voted against approving the project, saying they hoped further discussions would allow more time to address concerns around gentrification and other issues.
Millman, the commission president, said, “For this particular entitlement, the benefits are both inherent and the things that are not in our purview are strong enough to support the conditional use. But beyond that, that’s not how we make our decision.”
“Our decision is based on the finding necessary to grant that conditional use and looking at the findings in our staff report. I think they are completely sound,” she added.
She noted that discussions around community benefits are often led by the council member or council office representing the area — in this case Councilman Kevin de León, who represents the 14th District.
Leung agreed to a certain extent with Millman’s comments, but said she could not fully accept the finding in the environmental impact report — which stated there would not be “a substantial housing impact.”
She also referenced the planning department’s value of equitable planning.
“This community is filled with people of color and a lot of our community are long-term renters,” Leung said. “I am hopeful that USC, as a longtime partner and institution, clearly with a commitment to the community, will find some common ground when you guys return — that there will more consensus among community members.”
More than 50 people spoke against the project, many of whom stated they were members of surrounding neighborhoods in northeast L.A. such as Boyle Heights, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights, citing concerns around gentrification, impacts to the environment and economic opportunities.
“I’m worried about this project because this project is going to bring a lot of congestion into the area where we already have a lot of issues,” Araceli Martinez, a Boyle Heights resident, told commissioners.
Members of Eastside LEADS criticized USC for what they called a lack of engagement with them and members of the community their group represents. Organizers called on USC to meet with them and create a mitigation plan that would address indirect impacts to housing, as well as to bolster economic opportunity for workers in the community.
USC officials explained the facility is intended for research and not to increase the university’s enrollment numbers.
Medical students, professors, labor union representatives and members of the business community came out in droves, as well, and urged the commission to back the project because of the educational, health and economic opportunities it represents.
“USC has worked diligently with us and our membership to engage the community around the proposed Discovery and Translation Hub,” Jennifer Lahoda, president of the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, said. “The DTH will provide important advancement and increase health equity in areas in impacted communities of Boyle Heights and the east side.”
USC officials also noted the university will pay a “livable” wage during construction to all workers and it is committed to local hiring.
According to planning documents, the facility would also contain two subterranean levels and accommodate more than 84 researchers, supporting bench and computational laboratory research.
The facility would connect to the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine building via the two lower levels. It’s also smaller compared to the 12-story Norris Research Center across Eastlake Avenue.
Additionally, the project would include a 2,030-square-foot lecture hall, a “grab and go” type of cafe/vending machine area, a biorepository, a medical chemistry core lab, and several collaboration spaces.
USC officials said the research facility would be a “critical component” of the USC biomedical research ecosystem, in which real world health problems in the community, clinics, and hospitals would inform discoveries that could lead to new treatments and prevention of diseases.