Hearing Officer to Weigh Condominium Map for North Lake Avenue Project

The Pasadena Hearing Officer is scheduled to consider a request to combine two North Lake Avenue lots into a single property and then divide it into dozens of “air parcels” — a step that would clear the way for individual condominium units to be sold at the site — when Hearing Officer Paul Novak convenes the meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

The applicant, Tecton, has filed a Vesting Tentative Tract Map application to consolidate two lots at 80 and 100 North Lake Avenue and then carve the combined property into 75 residential air parcels and five commercial air parcels for residential and commercial condominium purposes.

The map approval is a technical but consequential piece of the project’s path to market: it would create the legal framework allowing each dwelling unit and commercial space to be sold individually rather than held under single ownership.

The city’s notice states the application concerns only the creation of the air parcels, which would allow the sale of each dwelling unit and commercial unit, and does not, by itself, authorize new construction. For prospective homebuyers and businesses eyeing the Lake Avenue corridor, an approval would establish how ownership at the site could ultimately be divided and sold.

The two lots — identified by county assessor numbers 5738-008-033 and 5738-008-034 — sit within the CD-MUG-AD-2 zoning district, which the city defines as the Central District Specific Plan’s Mixed-Use General category with an Alcohol Density Overlay.

City planning staff is recommending that the Hearing Officer approve the Vesting Tentative Tract Map with conditions and adopt a determination that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under the guidelines for in-fill development projects. Staff has found that there are no unusual circumstances distinguishing the project from others in that exempt class.

Because the Hearing Officer’s decisions are binding but subject to a 10-day appeal period, an approval of the map could be challenged within 10 days of the decision. The Aug. 5 hearing will be conducted by Hearing Officer Paul Novak.

Questions about the item may be directed to case manager Katherine Moran of the Planning & Community Development Department at (626) 744-6740.

The Hearing Officer is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, in the Permit Center Hearing Room at the Hale Building, 175 North Garfield Avenue, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.