By Eliza PARTIKA

The Crescenta Valley Community Association (CVCA) met on Thursday night, Jan. 22 – its first meeting of the year – to discuss the proposed development on Briggs Avenue and Foothill Boulevard, among other upcoming developments on Foothill. Approximately 20 community members attended the meeting; many were vocal about fire safety, emergency evacuation concerns and traffic concerns in the areas immediately surrounding Briggs Avenue. 

By far the biggest concern of attendees was a high increase in density, like what is proposed at Briggs and Foothill, that could impact police and fire response times in an emergency. Given the infrastructure failure seen in last year’s Eaton Fire, residents of Crescenta Valley are worried that if an emergency like that were to happen again, fleeing residents would be bottlenecked on Foothill Boulevard and Briggs Avenue, where there is only one possible road for evacuation. 

One attendee raised concerns about pedestrian and vehicle accidents at the schools nearby due to the increase in vehicle traffic. Others discussed the negative impact an increase of up to 200 residents would have on the street parking situation around Foothill Boulevard. 

The Briggs project is planned as an 80-unit, five-story building with 80 parking spots. Attendees worried that some tenants could have the need for more than one spot, causing the parking to spill over onto the already congested streets. 

CVCA treasurer Susan Bolan said there is a concern that the infrastructure and the character of the town does not support the type of development Abode Communities is seeking to build. She emphasized that while the CVCA is certainly not opposed to affordable housing, it would like to see housing that takes communities’ concerns into account and also take into consideration the infrastructure available to create a sound development. 

“From the Eaton Fire, we have seen that evacuation is critical to communities, and the [proposed] development as it is now would impede the ability of those on Briggs Terrace to evacuate quickly and smoothly,” she said. “This all falls under the scope of infrastructure. Do we have enough adequate water? Are the sewers adequate? Will the number of parking spaces impede the neighbors?”

Attendees were also concerned how their local control of design elements and concerns about traffic and housing density would be taken, while state laws like SB 9, AB130 and SB 79 restrict local municipalities from making certain changes to new housing proposals. 

LA County Board Supervisor Kathryn Barger sent an open letter in December  to Abode, the developer in charge of the proposed project at Briggs and Foothill, demanding it consider community concerns in its next design review, including parking impacts, evacuation concerns and building height and scale. 

Supervisor Barger has been working with the Crescenta Valley Town Council to set up another town hall to discuss the demands she made in a formal letter sent to Abode Communities, the developers of the project. The discussion to set a date for the proposed town hall is expected to take place in the next two weeks. 

“The state legislature has passed a number of bills that affect housing statewide. Having Kathryn Barger as our local advocate looking at these projects and how they relate to the community gives the community more of a say,” Bolan said. 

Bolan and other CVCA leaders encouraged attendees to make records requests, attend meetings, write to representatives and make their voices heard. 

“We’re seeing more and more projects coming forward that are a huge concern. The role of the CVCA is to inform the community and its members about the projects that are coming up and the hearings that people can attend and how they can participate. So, in moving forward we can’t solve all of these issues, but we certainly can grow our organization to be stronger in our voice,” she said.