Pasadena Star News - March 11, 2007
by Janette Williams, Staff Writer

PASADENA - After eight years of wrangling over scale, density and historic preservation - plus two long-drawn-out failed proposals - the final Ambassador College campus plan goes to the City Council on Monday.

The 19.72 acres left at the city's western gateway is now set to become the largest housing development in Pasadena history.

The Ambassador West project proposed by Glendale-based developer Dorn Platz has won over many neighbors with its emphasis on retaining 12 acres of open space, including lawns, European-style gardens and courtyards, while preserving all the historic buildings and 80 percent of the trees.

"Most people are exhaling now," said Fred Zepeda, president of the influential West Pasadena Residents Association, which fiercely opposed both earlier development proposals.

"We always felt we would get something reasonable," Zepeda said. "We would have preferred a little less density on the east side because of the traffic, but in its totality it seems somewhat reasonable."

The east side is the planned site of Sunrise Senior Living, 200 luxury assisted-living condos opposed by Harvest Rock Church, which bought the adjacent Ambassador Auditorium in 2004.

Church officials, who are expected to turn out in force Monday, have complained the six-story building on Green Street and St. John Avenue would "dwarf and overshadow" the auditorium and should be scaled back.

Mayor Bill Bogaard said the size of the Sunrise building - 145 condominiums on the lower level connected by a bridge to 55 upper-level units - could be a sticking point, although the developers say it meets city zoning requirements.

"I think the council will review the project documents and listen to the testimony Monday evening before reaching the conclusion that the senior facility [Dorn Platz] proposed is correct," Bogaard said. "The argument is made that the high density has been placed at Green Street in accordance with the city's [Western Gateway Specific] plan, but I want to review the plan before necessarily reaching the same conclusion."

However, Bogaard said, the overall proposal is "highly attractive in to the earlier proposals for reuse of this property, which involved construction of as many as 1,200 homes."

Dorn Platz President Greg Galletly said the company had worked hard to please everyone, meeting with the city, neighbors, the WPRA, Pasadena Heritage and Pasadena Beautiful, among others.

"We wanted to get a sense as to what they wanted to see in terms of density, massing, building styles, preservation of resources, gardens and open space," Galletly said. "We don't want to be seen as the lesser of the evils, I would hope they would look at this on its own, and the team has done a good job with the design and satisfying the desires of the community."

The former 50-year home of the Worldwide Church of God's international headquarters, including the Ambassador Auditorium, was sold for development in January 1999.

A bitter doctrinal split after the 1986 death of founder Herbert W. Armstrong decimated the church membership and finally forced a sell-off of its 49-acre campus in Pasadena and the Big Sandy college campus in Texas.

Worldwide sold the Ambassador campus in three pieces, with Maranatha School and Harvest Rock Church moving on to the west campus in 2004; Sares Regis bought the 12-acre east campus the same year for a mixed retail and residential development.

The first project was from Irvine-based Legacy Partners, which unsuccessfully proposed building up to 1,900 homes on the combined 46-acre east and west campus and withdrew in 2002 after three years.

The church then decided to develop the site itself with Shea Homes, proposing 1,435 houses for the site. Dorn Platz came in when that effort too was abandoned after encountering stiff community opposition.

Councilman Steve Madison, whose district includes the Ambassador West project, said he expects a "lengthy discussion" Monday on issues of open space and density.

"My sense is we are very close, if not there already," Madison said. "I'm optimistic there will eventually be a resolution."

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janette.williams@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4482

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