Adams Hill neighbors challenge proposed zoning changes
A review of permit processing changes for Glendale, already delayed for more than a year, was pushed back again at a council meeting on Tuesday after some residents expressed concerns about suggestions for relaxed zoning restrictions.
The Community Development Department staff presented an evaluation of a 2013 ordinance that altered the way permits were processed. The streamline ordinance, as it’s referred to, was meant to simplify the movement of permits and project reviews for applicants by avoiding what the department considered burdensome procedures for requests that garnered little if any public attention.
The council, however, spent much of the meeting fielding questions and concerns from residents about additional streamline measures outlined in the report. Much of the apprehension was over the possibility of revising zoning standards in the southeast Glendale neighborhood Adams Hill.
Rondi Werner, president of the Adams Hill Neighborhood Assn., said she worries that changes to zoning in that area would favor larger development. New multifamily developments with six or fewer units can, in some cases, bypass the Design Review Board, and are instead referred to the director of community development for review.
“We’re not talking about remodels here or someone that wants to add another bathroom, and we don’t care about alcohol permits and all that, we just care mostly about new development,” Werner said.
Although staff proposals for additional streamlining measures covered all of Glendale, Adams Hill was singled out by city officials due to its atypically smaller lots when compared to other neighborhoods sharing the same land-use zone.
Many homes in Adams Hill are legally non-conforming with current zoning ordinances and couldn’t be built in the same manner today.
Streamlining project applications in Adams Hills would reduce the number of variances needed and would “result in a reduction in non-conforming structures,” according to the report.
“The idea isn’t to make it easier to develop any random lots in Adams Hill … We’re able to do that by way of the laws that are on the books today,” City Manager Scott Ochoa said. “The idea here is to say, ‘OK, if that’s a very unique place, how do you help folks that are living with that uniqueness but yet want to still improve their property?”
After nearly three hours of deliberation, council members decided to postpone any decisions on the streamlining report until a task force composed of community members reconvenes to review the impact the 2013 ordinance has had over the past few years and bring recommendations to the planning commission.
“When the task force goes back and looks, the goal for me is not to speed it up for developers, but to review it and make sure we haven’t gone too far with some of the speeding up that we did,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman. “So, I want to make sure that’s under the task force review as well.”
Another suggestion that concerned several residents was to either decrease the public notice radius of certain proposed project applications to below a 500-foot radius of the site or elimination of mailing notices. They said such a change would create a t a lack of transparency in the development process.
Several council members said they were against doing away with mailed notices and the matter would be postponed as part of the reconvening process.
Werner, who served on the 2013 streamlining task force, said she was thankful for the opportunity to reconvene the group and review the recent report by the Community Development Department.
She said she wants the task force to focus on multifamily units that were approved without public hearings before the Design Review Board, residential additions in excess of 200 square feet and other administrative exceptions.
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Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com
Twitter: @JeffLanda
