Judge Lifts Ban on 56 Apartment Projects
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday lifted an order obtained by homeowners groups that had blocked construction of 56 apartment projects, including 38 in the San Fernando Valley.
The Federation of Canyon and Hillside Assns., an umbrella organization of 43 neighborhood groups representing homeowners in the Santa Monica Mountains area, opposed construction of the apartments, which the federation said would destroy the character of neighborhoods of single-family homes.
The projects have become entangled in the city’s efforts to bring zoning regulations into line with the stricter requirements of the city’s General Plan within three years. The General Plan discourages greater population density in some areas by barring housing-unit increases that were permitted under the zoning.
Under a three-year interim ordinance adopted in April, building projects that had been submitted for review by city authorities before April 4 were covered by a “grandfather clause,” exempting them from the new restrictions.
Temporarily Blocked
The homeowners federation sued to block the exemption, and Judge John L. Cole last month issued a temporary restraining order halting issuance of construction permits for about 90 such “grandfathered” projects. The federation argued that the grandfather clause was improper and that the projects should be considered illegal.
The list was later pared to 56, as the homeowners group dropped objections to some developments. Of the 38 Valley projects, 4 would be in Studio City, 5 in Sherman Oaks, 5 in Van Nuys, 1 in Reseda and 23 in North Hollywood, said Felicia Marcus, an attorney representing the federation.
Most of the North Hollywood projects are clustered around Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Moorpark Street and Riverside Drive.
On Monday, Cole dissolved his temporary restraining order and refused a request by the federation for an injunction forbidding the city to issue the permits, saying he was concerned about unfairness to developers, “some big, some small, who have put their life savings into a project.”
Saying he also sympathized with residents affected by construction of multiunit apartment buildings in neighborhoods of single-family homes, he advised disgruntled homeowners groups to sue to block individual projects, rather than challenge the entire grandfather clause.
Jerry Daniel, chairman emeritus of the hillside federation, said his group, which does not cover the area of the Valley floor where most of the buildings would be constructed, believes it has done as much as it can and will not continue the fight.
The federation “will do whatever we can to advise homeowners groups in the affected communities of the possibility that some of these grandfathered permits can be acted on,” and will encourage them to consider mounting court challenges, he said.
Tom Paterson, president of the North Hollywood Residents Assn., accused the judge of “copping out after he allowed the whole process of grandfather permits to get out of hand.”
“If the judge had issued an injunction when the lawsuit was filed early this year, there would not have been time for the developers to rush through all those last-minute applications and we wouldn’t have the mess we have now,” Paterson said.
Paterson predicted that, if the apartment projects are built, “it will be next to impossible to stop other developers from building up other properties” nearby and “changing the whole character of the neighborhood.”
He said members of his association will be asked what they want to do next, but that “it should be obvious to the judge that community groups and individual homeowners don’t have the financial resources to file suits against all of these builders.”
