Playhouse Plaza Redesign Gets the Ok

By Dean Lee

The city’s design commission gave the go-ahead Monday night voting 5-1 stating there are no significant changes or new information that would trigger further environmental review for new construction of a six-story 159,829 square-foot mixed-use building that some say would dwarf the Pasadena Playhouse directly across the street.

Commissioner John Byram was the only nay vote on the nine member board.

The commission also favored a number of minor conditional use permits for the Playhouse Plaza at 680 East Colorado Blvd, including increase in the square footage and four adjustment permits for deviations from the Zoning Code, including the building’s height.

The new submitted design redistributes the mass of the project, including the addition of a full story making the overall project now six stories along Colorado Blvd. It also increases the floor area ratio (FAR) something many at the meeting were apposed to including Councilmember Terry Tornek.

“The approved project has an FAR in zone 1 on Colorado of 3.02,” he said. “Which is less than a percent higher than the maximum of 3.0.”

Tornek further said that nowhere in the city’s Central District, bound east and west by Mentor and Pasadena Avenues, was there a floor ratio above 3.0.

He said the new proposal in zone 1 now has an FAR of 3.98.

“This minor modification is 32 percent greater than the FAR provision for anywhere in the Central District,” he said. “So the solution that you’re being presented with tonight, of height averaging that isn’t really averaging and an FAR that is not a minor but is a major modification, is really quite extraordinary.”

Tornek added that he also did not think the project met the requirements for both the Central District Specific Plan and the city’s General Plan.

Many at the two hour long packed meeting said they approved of the new plans including a large group of Pasadena Playhouse members. Some said they changed their minds, first opposed to the project, now that most of the bulk of the project had been moved away from the Playhouse. This was something the city council asked for at a June 7 meeting.

The project’s zone 2 and zone 3 along El Molino include a public plaza aligned with the open courtyard of the Playhouse and a six story subterranean parking garage. The plans include a public gathering area and outdoor dining. The square footage for public space