Claim of Ground Instability Delays Decision on Calabasas Apartments

Confronted by a last-minute allegation of serious geologic problems at a proposed Calabasas building site, a Los Angeles County official said Monday that an 800-unit “affordable” apartment project may have to be scaled down.

Planning Commission members ordered a new county review of ground stability at the proposed apartment site at the north end of Las Virgenes Road after receiving a homeowner group’s geology report that said there is an unusually high water table beneath part of the 51-acre parcel.

An independent geologist hired by residents opposed to the apartment project concluded that the ground water could contribute to the liquefaction of the soil during an earthquake, leading to heavy ground-level shaking and sudden settlement that could affect structures.

Geologist Jeffrey A. Johnson’s findings were described as “disturbing” by Commissioner Norma Bard. Commission Chairman Stanley Gould said planners would delay action on a development request for the site until county staff geologists could study the Johnson report.

Commissioner George Lefcoe said the alleged problems might require that the project be redesigned to leave open the northern third of the site. That could mean erasing as many as 175 apartment units from the project’s blueprints.

But Johnson’s conclusions were quickly dismissed by developer Jack Bravo, who said earlier geological studies on the site, done as part of the development application, showed no such problems. Bravo also complained to commissioners that his county bond-financed project may not be feasible if fewer than 800 rental units are allowed.

According to Johnson, the earlier probes relied on “a small number” of soil borings that were not deep enough to adequately show the instability of the canyon bottom.

Besides the potential liquefaction problem, his study uncovered possibly unstable underground organic matter and a greater danger from above-ground slope failures than previous studies indicated, Johnson said.

Johnson’s report was turned over to commissioners by Calabasas homeowner David Brown, whose Malibu Canyon Park Homeowners Assn. commissioned the $640 study last month after a neighborhood resident raised the liquefaction question.

The homeowners’ last-minute submission was condemned by several commissioners, who had hoped to end months of debate over the apartment issue by voting on the application Monday. They had scheduled Brown as the last opponent to testify in the case before Bravo began rebuttal arguments.

Besides the geology report, Brown submitted a lengthy written objection to legality of Bravo’s application and a letter from Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Chatsworth) that called the apartment plan “wholly inconsistent with the character of the area.”

“I resent the fact that you waited until this morning to bring in this information,” Commissioner Delta Murphy said. “You do yourself a disservice to do this. . . . I think it’s most unfair for someone to bring in this information on the last day. It may not be illegal, but it is wrong in principle.”

In the confusion, Bravo and his associates halted their defense of the $60-million project, which would be built with Los Angeles County bond issue financing and a special affordable housing “density bonus.”

According to his proposal, 160 of the units would be designated as “affordable” rentals--with one-bedroom units renting for $461 a month--under provisions of the county’s Community Development Commission bond program. Another 94 units would be similarly designated through the density bonus program.

Bravo and partners Shappell Industries and The Mayer Group would use private construction-loan money to finance the project. Proceeds from a county bond sale would allow private lenders to charge Bravo an interest rate of about 10.8%, lower than he would normally receive.