Parcel Owned by Mayor’s Aide : Homeowners Urge a Lower Density for Encino Project

Los Angeles city planners were urged not to play favorites Thursday as homeowners attempted to block a 171-unit apartment complex on an Encino parcel owned by Mayor Tom Bradley’s chief San Fernando Valley aide.

Bradley assistant Doris (Dodo) Meyer has agreed to sell her six-acre White Oak Avenue estate to a developer who would build the 171 rental units--and perhaps 44 more if an extra density bonus can be obtained later from the city.

A project that big would choke traffic on the busy avenue and intrude into an adjoining neighborhood of expensive single-family homes, homeowners said. They urged that the development be limited to 96 units.

Planning commissioners, who are appointed by Bradley, listened to the arguments before announcing that they will vote May 7 on Meyer’s request for a zone change and an amendment to the city’s general plan.

Commission member Suzette Neiman, an Encino resident and former president of a neighborhood homeowners group, said the decision will be a tough one.

“I know the applicant and the people who live around it,” Neiman said.

Impact on Community

But current homeowner leaders said the project must be restricted in size in order to limit its impact on the community.

“Everybody knows this project’s outrageous,” said Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, who distributed anti-development flyers labeled “No favors, Mr. Bradley!”

“We seem to have some very high-priority people who are asking for something,” Gordon Murley, president of Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, told the commission. “We’d ask you not to let any bias or friendship enter into this.”

‘It’s Just Not Proper’

Richard Smith, president of Encino Property Owners Assn., asked planners to “try to keep some sanity to this project. . . . It’s just not proper to put that number of people on an area of land in a place that congested.”

Marilyn Sipiora--who lives next door to Meyer’s property, called Four Oaks Farm--said the area “is already overdeveloped with apartments.”

Homeowners were supported by Encino-area City Councilman Marvin Braude, who made an unusual appearance at the planning commission’s Van Nuys hearing. He urged a 96-unit limit and a buffer strip between existing houses and new apartments.

“It’s our responsibility to listen to the homeowners,” Braude told commissioners.

Meyer did not appear at the hearing. But her representative, land-use lobbyist Donald Cunningham, said lowered apartment heights and special fencing and landscaping would screen homes from the apartments, which would be developed by GBW Properties of Los Angeles.

Cunningham said the project would not add to congestion. “I don’t think we’re going to harm the traffic flow there,” he said.

Commission President Daniel P. Garcia set the May 7 vote after it became clear that the three planners at Thursday’s hearing could not agree on the project’s density. Three votes are needed for the five-member panel to act on an application.

He said a decision will be made on the merits of the development application, “not the personal accusations.”