Placentia : Residents Win First Round in Zoning Fight.

Santa Fe neighborhood residents fighting a zoning change to increase housing density from low to high won an initial victory from the City Council last week.

The council said it had to conform with state law and termed changes in the General Plan to increase housing density as merely “administrative.” The residents, noting that the neighborhood is predominantly Latino, called them discriminatory.

Last week, the council appeased residents and sent the proposal back to the Planning Commission to review and return with a lower density designation.

“At first, I thought it was a miracle. They’ve finally listened to us,” said resident Viola Placencia. But until the changes are made, Placencia said, she and others will maintain a wait-and-see attitude. The residents, she said, still fear that the area may be zoned for high density, allowing apartment complexes to spring up.

Council members rejected Development Services Director, Joyce Rosenthal’s recommendation to stick with the initial suggestion and change the area’s General Plan from low-density residential to high-density residential. About 55% of the area already is zoned either R-2 or R-3, officials said, so the changes represent only “paper work.” (Under R-3 zoning, a property owner can build up to 25 units per acre. Under R-2, the maximum is eight units, and R-1 the maximum is 4 1/2 units.)

The zoning change is one of many the city has been working on to conform with state law and avoid the potential for lawsuits, officials said.

In Los Angeles, 40-year-old zoning laws came under attack in late 1984 in a suit by several homeowner groups. A state law requires that the General Plan and the zoning map--two documents which govern land use--be in conformance. In Placentia, the Santa Fe area in dispute is designated low-density residential in the General Plan, but R-3 (which means more dwellings) in its zoning designation.

The issue became a heated one for several area homeowners and tenants, who said they walked door-to-door to talk to residents and garner support.