Cities Praise Ruling Backing Local Control Over Condos

Officials in Los Angeles and surrounding cities said Friday that a state Supreme Court ruling upholding their power to stop conversions of apartments to condominiums comes at a time when they already have the upper hand over building owners.

But they are not looking this gift horse in the mouth.

“I think it’s a terrific ruling,” said Cindy Miscikowski, aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, whose 11th District includes parts of the West San Fernando Valley, once a busy area for conversions. “It gives us the green light to continue doing what we have been doing.”

The ruling Thursday stemmed from a challenge to a 1980 Oxnard ordinance by the owner of a 72-unit apartment building. Griffin Development Co. charged that the ordinance barring conversions from rental units to individually owned condominiums violated its property rights. Reversing a state Court of Appeal ruling, the Supreme Court said Oxnard’s ordinance was a “legitimate exercise of the city’s police power” because it was an effort to maintain rental housing for families who could not afford to buy condominiums.

The Oxnard ordinance is similar to a series of measures the Los Angeles City Council adopted beginning in 1978. Those measures gave the council the power to determine which buildings could be converted and to require developers to help tenants find new apartments when displaced.

No apartments in Oxnard have been converted into condominiums since its ordinance was passed. The Los Angeles regulations also virtually stopped applications to the city for permission to make conversions, said Miscikowski. She noted that the Valley communities of Encino, Sherman Oaks and Tarzana were among the communities hardest hit by the conversion trend. In the Westside’s Brentwood, 40% of the rental housing had been taken off the market for conversion to condominiums by 1980.

Even without legislation, it is likely that the conversion trend would have waned. There now is a condominium glut, according to real estate and building-industry representatives.

In some cities, planning officials say, developers are once again building apartment houses instead of condominiums.

No Impact in Burbank

“The thrust in Burbank has been the construction of apartment units,” said Larry Kosmont, the city’s director of community development. “The court ruling doesn’t have any impact on us. The condo market here is really flat.”

In some other area communities, officials said the ruling had no effect because the towns never receive applications for condo conversions. Agoura Hills officials, for example, said they have received no applications for conversions in the 2 1/2 years the city has been incorporated. The city has no ordinance barring conversions.

In Thousand Oaks, there has been no problem with conversions, City Atty. Mike Martello said. To head off difficulties, the city passed an ordinance in 1983 banning conversions unless the city has an apartment vacancy rate of at least 5%. The idea is to maintain reasonably priced housing, according to Martello. He said the current vacancy rate is 1%.

“Our policy is to maintain apartment stock,” Martello said. “It is very important to us.”

Although conversions have not been a problem in his city, he praised the ruling by the state Supreme Court.

“It’s another step by the court to defer these matters to local control,” Martello said.