Inglewood Planning Commission Hearing for Proposed 7-Eleven POSTPONED

Inglewood homeowners have attained a victory in their quest to stop a proposed eight (8) pump gas station at the intersection of LaBrea and 64th. After this blog covered their community meeting with 7-Eleven the area Councilman sprang into action and called homeowners with some great news.

Related: Inglewood Homeowners Organize Against Proposed 7-Eleven

December 4th Hearing POSTPONED

Councilman Alex Padilla called today to let us know that 7-Eleven will be postponing the hearing on December 4th because they won’t have their paperwork ready on time. This is likely a direct result of the pressure the community has put on 7-Eleven. The postponement will not be official until it is announced at the December 4th meeting. There is not currently a new date set, but Mr. Padilla believes it will be in February. 

Momentum

We must make sure we don’t lose momentum. Developers will often continuously delay hearings so that the community gets tired and stops showing up to oppose them. We think this delay gives us more time to get petition signatures and get the word out, so let’s use it to our advantage. Share the petition here.

Letter of Opposition

We have drafted a letter of opposition that we will email and hand deliver to the city council and planning department. This letter has been reviewed by a land use attorney. We are sending this letter now because the planning commission will need to see that we have officially filed this complaint. Otherwise, they can claim that we never brought up these issues and then tell us it is too late to do anything. This letter calls out the unjust notice of exemption that was signed by the planning department. 

Further Research

Based on advice from an attorney, we are looking to get public records on the other types of new commercial buildings approved in Inglewood in the last year or two. The law is clear that the project at issue must be an unusual circumstance and have environmental effects that flow directly from the unusual circumstance.  If we can show that this was the only gas station in Inglewood approved recently (or one of very few) that makes it unusual, and the fact that it is a gas station means there are environmental effects such as air emissions, potential for groundwater and surface water pollution, traffic, and greenhouse gas impacts.  We have a good argument that it doesn’t qualify for the exemption but to bolster our unusual circumstances argument, we need to show that approving a new gas station is unusual in the area. This will be especially helpful if / when we have to appeal to City Council to continue to fight this project.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Will update you when we hear more, but in the meantime have a very happy thanksgiving.