Apartments Redesigned for Disabled

A paralyzed man’s curiosity over whether he could steer his wheelchair into new apartments being built in Woodland Hills has prompted a partial redesign of the $153-million project and a revamping of Los Angeles city procedures for future apartment construction.

Representatives of CoastFed Properties agreed Monday to enlarge the bathrooms and reconfigure the kitchens in 40 of the 1,279 units being built at their new Warner Center Apartments project.

Building and Safety Department officials said the modifications will bring the development into compliance with a little-known state law that requires apartment builders to spend $600 a unit to make projects accessible to handicapped tenants.

They said their investigation of a complaint about the project from wheelchair-bound Richard Smith of Encino will provide the city with its first concrete guidelines for enforcing the 3-year-old state law.

Reserves Units

The half-built Woodland Hills project is being financed with $144 million in city revenue bonds. It is part of a municipal “affordable” housing program that reserves rental units for moderate- and low-income families.

According to Smith, he inspected model apartments at the project to check their accessibility after learning that the Canoga Avenue development was the city’s largest bond project for rental housing.

Smith, 42, a former high school football star, was paralyzed from the chest down 15 years ago when a wave pushed his head into the sand as he floated at Venice Beach. Before the accident he worked as a financial analyst. He is now a volunteer member of Mayor Tom Bradley’s advisory council on disability.

“I’m thrilled that the city had the courage to do this for handicapped individuals that don’t have adequate housing,” Smith said after being told of Monday’s agreement. “I felt I had to complain because of the enormity of this particular development.”

Transform Project

Michael Wood, a Building and Safety Department investigator, said the 40 special units will turn the Woodland Hills project into the state’s most accessible apartment development.

He said many builders meet the $600-a-unit accessibility fee requirement by putting in such things as non-skid sidewalks and ramps that do not result in a single rental unit being fully accessible to people in wheelchairs.

“It’s been a learning process for all of us,” Wood said. “The developer learned that it’s easier to get compliance in the beginning than to go back and retrofit units. We learned to take a much closer look at these units in the future.”

Building and Safety Department Manager Frank V. Kroeger said his agency was able to act because the Woodland Hills apartments are being built in phases and most of them still have not received occupancy permits.

Henry C. Casden, a lawyer for CoastFed Properties and a brother of project developer Alan Casden of Beverly Hills, said the firm had previously planned $1.1 million worth of handicapped facilities for the project.

Cost Unknown

He said the firm will not know the cost of the additional work until blueprints are drawn up.

“I think the city and the handicapped community will be very pleased. I think handicapped people will be very comfortable there,” Casden said.