Planners Asked to End ‘High-Density Misery’ in Apartment Growth

More than 100 homeowners Tuesday called on the Los Angeles Planning Commission to support restrictions on apartment growth in parts of Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Toluca Lake.

Their requests before a hearing officer came a few hours after a City Council committee recommended height and other restrictions on apartments to be built in a small section of North Hollywood.

Members of the Committee of 100, a newly formed Studio City homeowners’ group, called for an end to “high-density misery,” as member Guy McCreary described it. They were among representatives of several San Fernando Valley homeowners’ groups who gathered at the hearing at Reed Junior High School in Studio City.

“They bring more people, more crime, more dope into our neighborhoods,” McCreary said of apartments. Each new apartment attracts other new apartments, he added. “It’s like flies landing on paper out there.”

Their testimony will be included in a report to the Planning Commission, which will make its recommendations to the City Council next year.

Zoning Revisions

The hearing was called so that residents could speak out on proposed revisions to zoning and the city’s General Plan for parts of the three communities.

“We vigorously protest any increases of density,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of the Homeowners of Encino. He called for a moratorium on building in the areas under study by the Planning Commission.

McCreary also called for a moratorium on development along Tujunga Avenue in Studio City to give the Planning Department time to review six apartment projects that, according to the city attorney’s office, were improperly approved. He said the his group opposes the multistory apartments because they will disrupt the atmosphere of a neighborhood dominated by single-family homes.

The projects in the 4100 and 4200 blocks of Tujunga were granted exemptions allowing them to proceed while the General Plan and zoning are being revised, but the exemptions are being reassessed because the city attorney’s office determined that the Planning Department had misinterpreted guidelines governing such matters.

Earlier Tuesday, the City Council’s Planning and Environment Committee supported a proposed ordinance requiring developers to widen adjoining streets, provide at least one guest-parking space for every four units and keep the height of their buildings to no more than three stories in a congested area of North Hollywood.

The measure, sent to the full council, would affect property zoned multiple-family 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. It would be in effect for a year to give city planners time to prepare permanent controls for the area.

The measure was proposed by Ferraro, who represents the area, in response to complaints from longtime homeowners. They said the proliferation of large apartment and condominium complexes has caused parking problems and traffic congestion on their narrow residential streets.

Similar controls on apartment and condominium construction are in affect in the Valley Village area of North Hollywood and a large part of Sherman Oaks.