Multiple Earthquake-Causing Fault Lines Found Under, Through Proposed Site Of New Hollywood Skyscrapers
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A coalition of Hollywood stakeholders are speaking out against a plan to develop two skyscrapers after recent geological studies showed earthquake-causing fault lines running through the proposed site.
A letter from the California Geological Survey last week to LA's planning department said scientists found multiple fault lines capable of causing an earthquake where the development – named the Hollywood Center – is planned.
"These studies strongly support the presence of an active southern fault strand entering the eastern Hollywood Center property in the vicinity of the alley at Argyle,'' the letter said. The letter also said the U.S. Geological Survey's own peer-reviewed analysis of the Hollywood Fault zone in the immediate area of the proposed development showed near-surface fault traces of the Hollywood Fault in the same locations. The USGS study showed four fault projections that run through the area, with some going directly through the planned sites.
Attorneys for the Stop the Millennium Hollywood Coalition said they believe the most recent environmental reports that developer Millennium Partners submitted to Los Angeles planning staff left out critical data related to possible earthquakes.
"We have much more evidence, in fact bombshell evidence, that the project site ... is riddled with earthquake faults,'' said Robert Silverstein, the attorney for the Stop the Millennium Hollywood. "If Los Angeles City Hall has any integrity, it will listen to the preeminent United States Geological Survey and California Geological Survey and not approve Millennium's dangerous new proposal.''
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The plans for the development include a 46-story building to the west of the iconic Capitol Records building and a 35-story structure to the east. It also includes two other, 11-story buildings. Altogether, the development would include 1,005 residential units and up to 30,176 square feet of commercial use space within the four mixed-use buildings, according to the LA planning department.
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