Parking-Lot Plan Splits Homeowners : Warring Camps Replace Once-United Front That Fought Nearby High-Rise

Residents along a block of single-family homes in Encino were united in opposition several years ago to construction of the six-story Fujita Corp. building that now towers over them.

But with the high-rise office nearly completed, they have split into warring camps over a proposed 288-space parking lot next to the building.

In one camp are the nine homeowners on the south side of the 15800 block of Moorpark Street, whose backyards are shaded much of the year by the 400,000-square-foot building, separated from their homes by only a few feet.

Say Homes Are Unlivable

They contend their homes are unlivable since erection of the Fujita building, formally known as Encino Terrace Center.

All nine homeowners are in escrow with nearby Valley Beth Shalom, which wants to demolish the one-story houses and replace them with a temple parking lot.

Homeowners on the north side of Moorpark and on nearby streets, however, vehemently oppose the parking lot, saying it will aggravate congestion and set a precedent for converting single-family zoned property to commercial uses.

Homeowners of Encino, an organization of single-family homeowners with members from both camps, has opposed the lot.

A city zoning administrator will conduct a hearing on the temple’s request for a parking lot permit at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 10.

Decision Can Be Appealed

The administrator’s decision can be appealed to the city Planning Commission and, ultimately, to the Los Angeles City Council.

“I just don’t understand why the people across the street are against us,” said Bruce Gregory, one of the nine on the south side of Moorpark. “They apparently have no idea what we have been through during the construction period and what it is like to live in our houses now.”

Lori Kaplan, another resident of the south side, said: “We’ve lost our privacy, our quiet and much of our sunlight. It’s like living next to a monstrosity.”

But Evan B. Schenkel, who lives half a block from the proposed parking lot, contends that, with the lot, residents throughout the neighborhood will suffer a “far greater reduction in property value” than those on the south side have suffered as a result of the Fujita building.

‘A Foot in the Door’

Schenkel also said that construction of a parking lot “will be a foot in the door to eventually convert the land to other commercial uses.”

He suggested it was “extremely unlikely” that the temple would pay “what I calculate to be more than $2 million for the land without some intention to eventually convert it to offices or a school.”

Leonard Smith, temple executive director, declined comment, referring all questions to temple President Sylvia Bernstein, who could not be reached.

Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, said it was “reprehensible that the city would in any way permit destruction of nine lovely homes and allow them to be replaced by a parking lot.”