Synopsis
Tonight, the City Council held the official vote to deny the application for the Sunrise project. The vote was 4-0, with Mayor Klessig abstaining, and the project is officially denied. The applicant may not bring this project, nor one that is substantially similar to it, before the council for a minimum of 12 months. They can, however, present a substantially different project at any time to the land use committee.
Full Article
Prior to the vote, Sunrise asked for a delay of 60 days on the vote so that they could propose a modified project. That request was denied, and the vote took place.
While the vote was not delayed, Sunrise has the right to go to land use committee meetings and propose projects at any time — as they are meetings open to the public, and open for the public to make comments at. Should the land use committee feel that a newly propose project has merit, and is substantially different, the land use committee can propose that the entire council spend time and consider a new project.
Mayor Klessig commented that while she was not in support of the project as proposed, but she was in favor of senior housing being available at this site, hence her earlier indication of support, and tonight’s vote abstention.
Multiple council members expressed to Sunrise that they had a “credibility problem.” They further explained that the members had asked Sunrise to make their best proposal, and which has been denied. To paraphrase those comments, to now request time to come up with a different proposal, that addressed the concerns of the council, not only created a credibility problem, but also (as Councilman Slavin put it) was “somewhat insulting.”
In short, the council has denied their application. But, Sunrise … as anyone can … can attend land use committee meetings (which are public) to talk about new concepts they may have for this or any other project in Westlake Village.
