Neighborhood’s in His Hands : Planner’s a Key Man in Deciding What’s Right for Community

City Planner Sal Salinas holds Northeast Los Angeles in the palm of his hand.

Actually, it’s a map of the Northeast Community Plan that Salinas is clutching on this recent day as he discusses the thorny issue of development in Mt. Washington.

D. D. & W. Associates of Brea wants to build a 100-unit condominium complex on a 35-acre hillside parcel in the Elyria Canyon part of Mt. Washington. But, because the Northeast plan permits only half that many units, D .D .& W . has requested a plan amendment and a zone change.

That’s where Salinas comes in.

Commission Depends on Recommendations

Salinas is one of about 40 men and women who evaluate development proposals and recommend to the Planning Commission what should get built where. He is an important rung in the long bureaucratic ladder that D .D .& W . must climb before its request reaches the City Council for final review.

Salinas doesn’t have the visibility or name recognition of council members and community leaders. Nevertheless, planning commissioners consider the Los Angeles city planner a key figure in determining what projects are appropriate for a neighborhood. Commission President Daniel P. Garcia says that Salinas’ recommendations are usually upheld.

“He’s the expert. He’s the one most familiar with the area,” Garcia said.

Salinas’ turf encompasses three of the city’s 35 community plans: Northeast Los Angeles, Silver Lake-Echo Park and Boyle Heights. That includes the diverse communities of Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Atwater, Glassell Park, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Mt. Washington and Boyle Heights. It is one of the city’s oldest settled areas, an eclectic land dotted by affluence and poverty, flatlands and hillsides, Anglos and Latinos, established homeowners and newly arrived Third World immigrants.

It is also an area that has been polarized in recent years by developers eager to build it up and homeowners determined to see it retain the sleepy charm of many of its neighborhoods.

Salinas, a trim man with a salt-and-pepper mustache, says he tries to stay neutral. From a small, fifth-floor office in City Hall stacked with maps and building plans, Salinas researches the development proposals and writes his reports.

Recently, for example, he spent the afternoon scrutinizing a tract map that D. D .& W. submitted for the Elyria Canyon project. The developer offered to build a private street through the subdivision and said the project would create needed housing while maintaining the area’s woodsy feel.

Before making a decision, Salinas requested reports from city offices including the Department of Transportation (Could the area’s narrow roads bear up to 200 additional car trips daily? The answer: no); the Fire Department (Did the proposed new road give enough access to fire trucks? No); geologists (Would grading create drainage problems or increase the chance of mud slides? Yes); the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (Would additional water mains be needed? Yes), and the Department of Health Services (Would more sanitary sewers be needed? Definitely).

Concern About Precedent

He also took community concerns into account. The local homeowner group, the Mt. Washington Assn., was especially worried that the project might set a precedent for hillside development.

Eventually Salinas came out against the project because it violated the plan and burdened the area’s infrastructure. Also, he said in an interview, “I’ve looked at it closely enough to see that the community does not want it.”

But his supervisors in the Planning Department wanted more time to study the issues, and, at a hearing in July, the Planning Commission agreed to table the matter until a hearing scheduled for today.

Meanwhile, planning officials hope the developer will devise a proposal that residents and other city agencies find more acceptable.

A consultant for the developer declined to comment on the workings of the Planning Department. But Camille Courtney, a vice president at D. D .& W., said she found Los Angeles city planners professional and helpful.

Cultural Misunderstandings

Salinas, who holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from USC, says most developers are well-versed in planning lore. But cultural misunderstandings sometimes arise with Latino or Asian developers unfamiliar with Los Angeles’ planning procedures.

“Some developers don’t bother getting permits. They just start building,” Salinas said.

In nearly three decades with the Planning Department, Salinas says, he has been threatened, cajoled, entreated and offered money in return for favorable reports.

Developers tell Salinas that their fortunes will be sunk, their families forced onto the street and their reputations ruined if he doesn’t push their project. He tells them that “one individual in the Planning Department doesn’t make the decision . . . and the ultimate decision is made by the City Council.”

Salinas sees his role as being “the guardian” of the community plans, the color-coded maps that regulate development by indicating which areas, for example, should remain low-density residential and which heavy industry.

Fears About Development

Opponents of development say the Northeast already suffers from insufficient city services, narrow streets, crowded schools, old sewers and crime-infested corners, and that unregulated new development will only make such problems worse.

Proponents say new housing is desperately needed--especially in the lowlands where most low-income residents live. They add that the Northeast is attractive because it is close to downtown Los Angeles and its real estate prices are lower than comparable locations on the West Side.

Because of the dispute, Salinas and other city officials say that revision of the Northeast Los Angeles Community Plan will probably begin late this year. Although the current plan was adopted by City Council in 1979 after years of discussion, it was drawn up more than 10 years ago and is already out of date, they say.

No Control Over Mini-Malls

Checking the plan is a big part of Salinas’ job. On a typical day, he might meet with builders who want to rezone property for condominiums, talk to a gas station owner who wants a conditional use permit to sell wine and beer, and field homeowner complaints about another ugly mini-mall going up on their corner.

Salinas has no control over mini-malls or any other development if the site is zoned for such a project, he says. And routine matters, such as adding to a house, get referred to the city Department of Building and Safety to see if they meet city codes.

But, if a developer needs a conditional use permit--to sell alcoholic beverages, for example--or a zone change or an amendment to the community plan, Salinas evaluates the proposal and makes a report for the Planning Commission and City Council.

Plans Supersede Zoning Laws

Community plans were designed in the late 1970s to supersede old zoning laws and set stringent limits on population density. Current zoning in the Silver Lake-Echo Park area, for instance, would allow as many as 195,000 residents. But the community plans calls for a maximum of 94,300 residents, only 16,000 more than the current population.

In 1979, state law AB 283 called for cities to make zoning and community plans consistent. But the City Council, under intense pressure from developers, continued to approve projects based on old zoning until 1984, when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the city to bring all zoning into compliance with community plans by February, 1988. Meanwhile, only building permits that conform to the community plan are being issued.

Salinas says he often gets incredulous looks when he tells developers that their proposals are not permitted by the community plan.

“They say, ‘Gee, why is that?’ And I say to them, ‘Where were you when they were devising the plan?”

Derek Shearer, director of urban studies at Occidental College and a planning commissioner for Santa Monica, said there is a widespread feeling that the Los Angeles Planning Department “doesn’t do a good job of encouraging citizen participation.”

Meets With Residents

But Salinas says he visits sites before writing his evaluations, reads community papers occasionally and speaks at homeowner meetings to explain planning procedure and gauge local feelings about controversial development. He is also fluent in Spanish.

Although he lives in Montebello, Salinas speaks fondly of his city territory, praising the small-town ambiance of Northeast Los Angeles and the privacy offered by Silver Lake’s winding streets.

Even local leaders who complain about what they perceive as a pro-development bias among the Planning Commission members acknowledge that Salinas and other city planners do a fair and thorough job, for the most part.

“Sal’s very helpful. He gives you an honest answer, and if he doesn’t know, he finds out,” said Ed Waite, president of an Atwater homeowners’ group and of the Northeast Area Council, a coalition of 12 neighborhood organizations.

No ‘Ivory-Tower Precepts’

Planning Commission President Garcia said Salinas has “convinced us that his recommendations are not based on ivory-tower precepts but on what’s best for the community.”

One project Salinas evaluated was a 92-unit apartment complex next to the Pasadena Freeway between Avenues 48 and 52 in Highland Park. Under the community plan, the land was designated for public use such as municipal maintenance yards. Salinas recommended against the project because it had poor street access and would have overloaded traffic arteries. Neighbors also protested the complex, claiming it would increase crime by catering to low-income residents.

The developer, Brian Weiss, withdrew his proposal and is seeking to swap the land for vacant city-owned property elsewhere. Weiss said he feels stymied by the community plan and frustrated by delays.

“When we bought the property, there was no community plan. Now they’re telling us we can’t build here.”

Advises Both Sides

Salinas says developers often call him for advice on getting projects approved. Likewise, he advises homeowners anxious to halt development.

Salinas recalls that Waite, of the Atwater Assn., once asked for advice on how to fight construction of a gas station mini-mart that would sell alcoholic beverages on Los Feliz Boulevard. Salinas consulted the community plan and determined that the mini-mart would increase traffic. He also told Waite he was concerned that regulating beer and wine sales to certain hours would prove impossible. His written report opposed the mini-mart.

In this case, however, Salinas’ recommendation was overruled by the Los Angeles Zoning Board. Waite has appealed the case to the City Council.

Salinas says residents in his areas are politically savvy, don’t hesitate to file lawsuits and mount well-organized campaigns. He expects such controversies to increase because more and more developers are looking at the area.

No matter what, Salinas says, the community plans will remain his bible.

“The residents spent a lot of time preparing the community plans, and it’s something they feel comfortable with. My job is to enforce what the community wants.”