Planners Impose Strict Construction Controls in N. Hollywood Area

Tough new controls over apartment and condominium construction in a congested North Hollywood neighborhood were imposed Thursday by Los Angeles city planners.

Officials said new construction will be banned unless developers prove that their projects are low-rise--and contain plenty of off-street parking for residents and guests.

The moratorium--designed to last one year and give transportation officials time to develop a long-range street-improvement plan--affects property zoned as multifamily residential in an area bounded by Tujunga Avenue on the west, Magnolia Boulevard on the north, Lankershim Boulevard on the east and Camarillo Street on the south.

Planning commissioners said the crackdown was prompted by a controversial 64-unit apartment house proposed for Hesby Street, west of Lankershim in the area. Despite the project’s size, only two guest-parking spaces were planned.

The city ordered the development redesigned after neighbors complained that it would add to parking and traffic congestion on nearby narrow residential streets, said Sharon Keysor, planning deputy to North Hollywood-area City Councilman John Ferraro. Its new design calls for the apartment project to have parking for 16 visitors, Keysor said.

To build under the moratorium, developers will be required to widen adjoining streets, provide at least one guest-parking space for every four units and keep the height of their buildings under 46 feet, officials said.

The moratorium was praised by La Maida Street resident Donna Scherer, who gave commissioners a petition signed by neighbors who support the controls. Scherer said so many cars park on the streets near her home that motorists sometimes cannot drive on them.

But Estelle Tenenbaum, who hopes to build a seven-unit apartment building on Klump Avenue with four women friends as co-partners, complained of the restrictions, “You’re just going to be preventing the little people from building.”

At the suggestion of Commissioner Robert J. Abernathy, the wording of the moratorium ordinance was modified to exclude projects by Tenenbaum and several other builders who already have filed plans with the city.