Carson Mayor Davis-Holmes’ State of the City Address to UnderscoreProgress Made In Developing 157 Acres
Days before Carson Mayor Lula Davis Holmes delivered the State of the City address, the mayor celebrated the groundbreaking for Envision Carson with the principals of the Faring/ Lennar partnership who are set to build a 1,115-unit development at the site of the Imperial Avalon mobile home park.
This is but only one of several developments set to come online. The city had been in talks with a few big box retailers to develop a store on the vacant lot across from the Porsche Experience. Costco had pulled out months ago after reaching an impasse with the developer of that property.
At the Feb. 15 community meeting on the Trump administration’s executive orders, planning commission president Diane Thomas noted that the city isn’t allowing litigation, referencing developer Cam-Carson, a joint venture between Macerich and Simon Property Group, to stop progress at the 157-acre project.
To get around this issue, the 157-acre project was broken into six parcels, two of those parcels were taken over by Faring and Lennar, separate from the Envision Carson project. Also, work has started on the construction of Leonardo Drive, a necessary step to begin building anything else on the 157-acre site.
But on Monday, the mayor didn’t duck the elephant in the room. Instead, she gave Faring a proverbial pat on the back for staying the course when the Imperial Avalon mobile home residents fought for their homes through demonstrations and protests at council meetings.
“In 2019, you and I were on a hit piece and saying we were trying to displace our mobile home park residents. They tried to take us out Jason,” the mayor said from the podium to Faring founder and CEO, Jason Illoulian.
She didn’t explain who “They,” were.
The mayor called up city council members to speak after her, starting with Councilman Jim Dear, who after reminding all in attendance of his longevity in Carson’s civic life and praising Faring for partnering with the city, said he wanted to bring, “a little touch of reality,” to the occasion, by noting that only three of the dozens of residents who chose the option that would allow them to return, will be doing so.
Random Lengths News attempted to follow up on the councilman’s comment with Illoulian after the photos of shoveling dirt were taken. He said he couldn’t recall the exact number. RLn also asked him about the status of the SLAPP motion Faring filed against Imperial Avalon’s Homeowners Association, which supported the residents in their fight to stay in their homes. He never responded.
SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. They’re intended to intimidate, censor, or silence critics by burdening them with costly and time-consuming litigation.
HOA president Jeff Steinman said by phone later that ultimately the SLAPP suit was dropped after all the residents had moved and the HOA agreed to not publicly disparage the company.
Dear said of Envision Carson, “It’ll be safe… it’ll be convenient … it’ll be somewhere where people can realize their individual family dreams,” he said.
Then he reminded attendees, saying, “As you know, I fought very hard for the residents of the mobile home park who were displaced,” referencing the three options the residents had to choose from.
“I think, Jason, only about three of them took Plan C,” Dear said. Then he followed with a backhanded compliment, “So that saved you a lot of money but it did show that you fulfilled your agreement.”
Dear concluded his remarks, noting that “if you have a dream that you’re willing to work for, you can’t just say, it’s the jewel of the South Bay, you have to make it happen.” Then he unintentionally deadpanned, “I think under the mayor’s leadership it will happen” to the giggles of some in attendance.