The Melrose Triangle project in West Hollywood is dead, City Council members learned Tuesday, but it could take the bulk of a year before the infamous hole is filled in.
During its meeting on Tuesday, the council heard that the entitlements for the mixed-use project have expired, and the city requires the developer to fill in the digging already undertaken, the WeHo Times reports.
That process won’t be immediate, however, prompting some consternation from council members.
Councilmember John Erickson called the timeline—six to nine months to fill in the hole—”unacceptable.”
“Is there an expedited timeline? I may not have experience filling holes with dirt, but I did grow up in the Midwest—how long does it take?” he asked.
Located at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, city staff said it would take 27,000 dump trucks full of dirt to fill in the hole, requiring dirt to be acquired from outside the county. This additional environmental impact raised concerns of its own.
“It’s deeply disappointing to have waited this long on a project, only to be left with no project and significant challenges in how we move forward,” Mayor Chelsea Byers said, as reported by the Beverly Press. “There is nothing ideal about enforcing 27,000 truckloads of dirt – but the hole itself created its own issues with water retention, mosquitoes, dust and ongoing safety concerns. I hope the city sees future plans reflective of the significance this area holds and backed by invested stakeholders committed to follow through.”
The mosquitos in particular have drawn a great deal of criticism, with the crater’s stagnant water serving as a breeding ground some dubbed “WeHo Swamp.”
