Planners to Reconsider Helipad Permit

The Los Angeles Planning Commission today is scheduled to reconsider its decision to permit a 9,000-pound commuter helicopter to land atop a 21-story office building at Sepulveda and Santa Monica boulevards.

The decision follows a barrage of telephone calls and letters objecting to the decision from Westwood property owners to the Planning Commission, the city attorney’s office and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

In 1983, the commission granted Bren Investment Properties a conditional-use permit to land a 3,500-pound helicopter once a day on the roof of the Westwood Gateway building. On July 18, the commission modified the permit, increasing the weight allowance to 9,000 pounds.

Residents claim that they have never had a chance to voice their objections to the helipad and that the modification of the conditional-use permit was approved illegally. The helipad has never been used and, according to conditions set forth in 1983, the permit cannot be modified until the helipad has been in operation for six months.

Terry Speth, secretary for the Planning Commission, said the agency is scheduled to reconsider the matter today at the request of the land-use division of the city attorney’s office. Deputy City Atty. Claudia Henry said her office was looking into a possible procedural error in the matter and had not yet decided what its recommendation to the commission would be.

Yaroslavsky, however, has called the entire matter a mistake.

According to Yaroslavsky, Bren’s original application sought permission to land an 8,500-pound helicopter. The permit reads 3,500 pounds instead of 8,500 because of a clerical error, he said.

Yaroslavsky this week said that he understood that Bren Investment had agreed to use the helipad for the required six months and then reapply for the conditional-use modification to land a larger helicopter.

But residents say that they are disturbed about the proliferation of helicopters and claim that they never received notification of either hearing.

Laura Lake, president of Friends of Westwood, the organization leading the protest, said she is especially concerned about the increase in helicopter traffic in Westwood where police, Sheriff’s Department, fire department and air ambulance helicopters use the landing pad at UCLA and at the West Los Angeles Municipal Building.

Lake said the residents of Westwood understand the need for emergency helicopters, but fear that the use of a commuter helicopter, such as the one requested for the Westwood Gateway building, will establish a precedent.

Lake said that if property owners had received a mailing about the hearing in 1983 they would have protested at that time. They are focusing on the increase in helicopter weight as a way to make themselves heard, Lake said.

Lake and representatives of other Westwood property owner associations say they see the issue as a citywide concern.

“We need some (city) rules regarding air rights,” said Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners Assn. “Nobody knows where they (the helicopters) are, where they land, nothing. There are no guidelines at all.

“It isn’t really a Westside issue. Helicopters are flying all over the place.”

Although the hearing examiner for the Planning Commission recommended approval of Bren’s 1983 request, he wrote in his report:

“The city does not have a clear policy of when or where helistops should be permitted. Should every building above a certain number of stories or (with a certain amount of floor space) be encouraged to have a private helistop?

“When does the intensity of helistops in an area or the number of flights, affect the approval of a helistop request? Should a specific need be established before an approval can be granted? . . . The criteria for a helistop approval should be more specific and policies for such facilities should be established by the city.”