Mayor Orders Review for Major Building Proposals

Mayor Tom Bradley, who has been criticized for favoring builders, ordered Los Angeles city officials on Monday to make it harder for developers to put up big commercial, apartment and condominium buildings in residential neighborhoods.

The mayor, at a City Hall press conference, announced that he has ordered the Department of Building and Safety to require environmental reviews of proposals before building permits are granted. The order takes effect Aug. 17.

Bradley acted to meet the requirements of a landmark California Supreme Court decision that upheld the contention of a neighborhood group, the Friends of Westwood, that the city is required to conduct such reviews. That case stemmed from the Friends of Westwood’s attempt to block a 26-story, $88-million office building and shopping complex on the site of the old Ship’s restaurant on the fringe of Westwood Village.

In the background of the mayoral action is a growing rift between him and neighborhood groups over administration policy on the development issue.

Neighborhood groups on the Westside, long a Bradley political stronghold, and in the San Fernando Valley have been increasingly angry over big commercial projects near residential areas. The Westside Pavilion, at Pico and Westwood boulevards, and the Fujita Building on Ventura Boulevard have been special targets of protest, as have plans for extensive development in the Los Angeles International Airport area.

Slow-growth protests in the latter area helped defeat a Bradley ally, former Councilwoman Pat Russell, in the June city election, despite Bradley’s strong campaigning for her. That appeared to put him on the losing side of the issue and to place him at odds with a loose coalition of neighborhood and environmental groups who favor more controls over growth. It also gave an opening to a potential 1989 mayoral rival, Westside Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who has favored more controls.

Asked at his press conference if he is joining the slow-growth movement, Bradley said, “Absolutely not.” But he added, “I am a law-abiding person” who wants speedy compliance with the court decision.

In the court case, the state Supreme Court let stand an appellate court decision requiring city officials to conduct environmental impact studies before issuing building permits for major developments.

The appellate court ruled that such reviews are required by the California Environmental Quality Act and said the city has the discretion to withhold building permits if development would have an unfavorable environmental impact. Attorneys for the city and developers had contended that the city is required to issue building permits if zoning, height limit and other city requirements are met and that the permits do not require environmental reports.

Longer Procedure

Under Monday’s order, developers of both the Westside Pavilion and the Fujita Building would have needed environmental impact reports before being granted building permits, officials said. Whether the requirement would have prevented construction of the two projects is not known, but such reports invariably lengthen the permit procedure, giving opponents more time to marshal their arguments.

Under Bradley’s order, the superintendent of building will demand environmental reviews for projects of 40,000 square feet of floor area or more, those that add more than 35 dwelling units, for multiple residential units in single-family areas and for “any project that generates 500 or more average daily automobile trips.”

That proposal resembles, to a degree, an ordinance proposed in June by Yaroslavsky and Councilman Marvin Braude, another slow-growth movement leader, to implement the court decision.

Braude and Yaroslavsky told reporters that, although they welcome Bradley’s action, the environmental report requirement should be made part of city law.

City ‘in Limbo’

Bradley, who declined to take a stand on the Braude-Yaroslavsky proposal, said his order is needed because an ordinance would not be approved “for months.” Until it is, he said, the city “is in limbo.”

Bradley said his guidelines are more stringent than those required by the court. UCLA Prof. Laura Lake of the Friends of Westwood said, however, that his proposal does not go far enough.

She said that under Bradley’s limits, the city could grant permits without reports for several smaller buildings whose cumulative impact could cause environmental damage. The city, she said, should take into consideration the full effect of small projects, rather than just deal with big ones.

Braude said he hopes the mayor’s action will speed passage of the ordinance proposed by him and Yaroslavsky.