Builder Is Racing to Beat Ban in Hills

The letter and the sandbags arrived the same day at Katherine Zoeger’s house in a quiet ravine in Woodland Hills.

The letter was part of a mass mailing by Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude. He was announcing passage of a moratorium on development of substandard lots in Zoeger’s neighborhood, saying it would “prove of major importance to preserving the quality of life in Woodland Hills.”

The sandbags were from developer Eric H. Dugdale. He was having them lined up next to Zoeger’s house to protect a freshly graded construction pad on a 3,500-square-foot lot.

Dugdale does not have the luxury of waiting out the rainy season before starting his project, a 1,600-square-foot, $180,000 house. He is racing to beat Braude’s moratorium.

The one-year building ban takes effect March 27--one month after it was signed into law by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

May Need Waiver to Proceed

If Dugdale doesn’t have his building permit in hand by then, he must convince the city to issue a waiver in order to proceed with his project. To get one, he must prove that substantial work has already been done and that a delay will cause unreasonable hardship.

City officials say Dugdale’s Golondrina Place parcel is shaping up as the first test of the small-lot building moratorium, enacted after years of complaints by homeowners and months of study by the city.

The construction ban affects about 2,000 lots in a 1.5-square-mile hillside area around the Woodland Hills Country Club. Bounded by Serrania Avenue, Mulholland Drive, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Dumetz Road, the moratorium zone covers acreage subdivided decades ago as the “Girard Tract.”

Lots as small as 1,500 square feet were created in 1922 when Victor Girard, Woodland Hills’ founder and developer, mapped them out as cabin sites for Los Angeles residents seeking a weekend retreat.

City zoning now requires that new residential lots have at least 5,000 square feet.

Large Houses, Small Lots

In recent years, however, large houses have been built legally on many of the small parcels, which qualify as construction sites because the lots were created before current zoning. Woodland Hills homeowners have complained that some of the new structures virtually smother the lots and ruin the rural ambiance of their hilly neighborhood.

It is that atmosphere that led Zoeger to buy her $160,000 home last fall from Dugdale, a Tarzana real estate agent. Surrounded by foliage and shaded by a 135-foot eucalyptus tree, the house is an original Girard cabin that has been modernized and enlarged.

“I grew up in Woodland Hills, but had been living the last few years in New York City,” said Zoeger, a 35-year-old teacher. “I didn’t want to have a building right outside my window anymore. I wanted birds and trees.”

Mindful that the little lot next to her house might eventually be developed, Zoeger said she asked Dugdale to give her first shot at buying it if he ever decided to sell. She said he agreed.

Tree Removed, Lot Cleared

In January, workmen showed up to cut down the eucalyptus tree. In February, a bulldozer arrived to clear and level the lot, she said.

“I went out when they cut the tree down and just cried,” Zoeger said. “It had been like a woods here. Now it’s like Vietnam; it’s devastation.”

Dugdale said the tree was cut down because it posed a hazard to Zoeger’s home. The bulldozing, he said, was done primarily to fill in the hole left by the big tree’s roots.

Dugdale said he loves Woodland Hills as much as Zoeger does.

“I grew up here. I went to school with her, to Parkman Junior High and Taft High,” said Dugdale, who also is 35. “I love the little area up there. I plan to build a small house for my father to live in, not a three-story one like I could.

“In spirit, I think the idea of protecting the area is right. But a moratorium is the wrong way to do it.”

Dugdale said he testified against the moratorium when hearings were held before the City Council last fall. At that time, officials assured him that his project was too modest to be targeted by the ban, he said.

“But, when I filed my plans in January, the city became impossible,” Dugdale said. “They gave me back sheets with 44 items that needed changing. They had me change the front door. They told me to measure all the setbacks on other houses on the street. They wanted elevations of all the streets.”

Dugdale said he now doubts that he can revise the plans in time to beat the deadline.

“We’re still up in the air about whether I’m being stopped. But it’s extremely unlikely at this point I’ll make it,” he said.

Lou Robins, the city Building and Safety Department’s assistant manager for the San Fernando Valley, said Dugdale will have to hurry to beat the moratorium, designed by Braude to give the city time to come up with permanent development guidelines for the area.

“It will be close. There are quite a bit of corrections and clearances that will be required,” Robins said. “The plan submitted was less than complete. They were trying to get in under the wire.”

Cindy Miscikowski, Braude’s chief aide, said Dugdale is apparently the only developer trying to beat the moratorium deadline. But, with the great demand for housing in the hills south of Ventura Boulevard, officials expect other lot owners to apply for waivers in the coming year.

If he misses it, Dugdale must apply to the city planning commission for a special permit that will require a public hearing, said Brad Rosenheim, Braude’s deputy in the Valley.

Needs Backing of Neighbors

If it goes that far, Rosenheim said, it will be in Dugdale’s best interest to approach the city with the backing of the lot’s neighbors.

Such support is unlikely, said Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization.

“We’ll appeal it to the City Council,” Murley said. “New construction should conform to terrain and not block views. They should build around trees, since this is called Woodland Hills.”

Ulf Helgesson, who lives on the other side of Dugdale’s vacant lot, said he too will oppose a waiver for the project. He would like to join Zoeger in buying the lot and keeping it as open space, he said.

“I’m not liable to walk away from this easily,” said Helgesson, 58, a 20-year resident of the neighborhood. “We have a heavy investment in time, sweat and emotions in our house and this neighborhood.”

Dugdale said he may be willing to sell the lot to Zoeger and Helgesson if he becomes the first victim of the moratorium.

“I have my life savings--close to $35,000--invested in it, and I’d sell it to them for that,” he said, “but not for that indefinitely.”