Vacant medical building gets new use

DOWNEY - A vocational training program for developmentally disabled adults was granted the OK Wednesday to open in a vacant medical building on Telegraph Road.The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to approve the building use. L. Mckinney Enterprises will operate the program at a former urgent care clinic at 8292 Telegraph Rd., where people with mental disabilities can receive job training, according to a staff report. The building has sat empty for at least five years and fallen into disrepair. L. Mckinney Enterprises is owned by Leonard Turner Jr. The company is listed on several websites as an adult day care facility. According to Turner's application, the program will accept up to 120 people, using its fleet of 13 passenger vans to transport clients. Vocational training takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. The property has only eight parking spaces, but "since most of the users will be brought in via a contracted van service and since employees who drive will be present during weekday hours, when residents are at work, approval of the use will not exacerbate parking problems in the area," city officials wrote in a report. Following the recommendation of city planners, the Planning Commission approved L. Mckinney Enterprise's application but on several conditions: *that the entire building be repainted; *that bare planters be replaced; *that illegal bricks in the parkway be removed; *that vans be parked on-site when dropping off or picking up clients; *that vans not be parked on the street or stored on-site.

********** Published: March 22, 2012 - Volume 10 - Issue 49