News Release About McCowan's Site

The Vista del Oro Neighbors Against Condos (VDONAC) has been organized to fight attempts by an out-of town developer to build up to 18 condominiums on the site of the former McCowan’s Market on the corner of 20Th Street and Walker Avenue, in San Pedro.

The group has demanded that only single-family houses are constructed on the three lots currently zoned for that type of housing, the developer now owns. The group also seeks to have only single-family housing built on the three lots that make up the site of the former market’s building.

In a late development, the developer has been found to be considering building duplexes on all six lots. That would require zoning changes for the three lots now zoned for only single-family housing.

VDONAC rejects this latest proposal by the developer because it would set a precedent for other lot owners to convert their single-family zoned lots to lots able to house duplexes or triplexes.
Leaders of the group, along with many neighbors in that affected neighborhood have been asked to attend a meeting on Tuesday February 5, 2008 at the Cabrillo Beach Bath House, at 6:30 PM. At the meeting, neighbors and anyone else may address the Planning and Land Use Committee and help them create a draft resolution to be presented to the Board of Directors of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, opposing any condominium development on the corner where the Market formerly operated.

In 1992 neighbors from that area successfully block an attempt to build seven condominium units on the corner of 20Th Street and Walker Avenue that were being considered, at that time, by Mr. John McCowan.

In a very short time, the Vista del Oro Neighbors Against Condos will have yard signs for display and they will be offered to neighbors all over the San Pedro area who also oppose having condominiums built on the site.

Information about the group and the issues they are dealing with can be found on this site and on the blog: www.rneighborhoodsare1.blogspot.com.

Shortly there will also be an Email address and phone number interested neighbors can call for more information.
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I guess we have to be ready for new tricks coming from the owners/developers, who claimed they wanted to build 18 condominiums on the site of the former market.

Now they want only twelve dwellings. But what they really want is a change of zoning on the three lots zoned for only single-family residences.

This would set a bad precedent for that local neighborhood, many people fear. So many San Pedrans live in homes passed to them by parents or other relatives. What would happen if Joe Schmoe passed away, left his single-family home to Jack and Katie Schmoe and they wanted to change the zoning so they could build a duplex on the site? Would the neighborhood turn into a neighborhood of duplexes or triplexes in the span of one generation?

I don't think the Vista del Oro Neighbors Against Condos want to be remembered for accepting that kind of change in that neighborhood.

So many lots have single-family homes in that area, that any change at this time, would signal the start of what may be a mass of tear downs and construction of more than one dwelling per lot.

I know a particular banker whos main accounts are finding people who will buy a lot that can be zoned for more than one dwelling, and then have the new buyers tear down a single-family house and build more dwellings on the lot that has a new zoning. It is his right to do his job, but I don't think that particular neighborhood should be subjected to the trauma it would cause so many families that have lived in that area for generations.

Vista del Oro is not like Tarragonna. It is much older and has a quality of life that is distinctive, wonderful and very San Pedro. It doesn't need or should want speculators coming in, buying adjoining properties and attempting to over develop the neighborhood.