Officials Unsure of Stopping Condo Project

Los Angeles city officials Tuesday cast doubt on their ability to stop construction of a Woodland Hills condominium project because of neighbors’ complaints about the elevation of the new homes.

The City Council, nonetheless, unanimously approved a request by Councilwoman Joy Picus for an investigation into whether the developer of the former Beachy estate at Oxnard Street and Shoup Avenue failed to comply with all conditions attached to city approval of the project.

City building officials, however, said they have no authority to stop work on the project until they find a violation.

Picus, whose district includes the project, said she will try to set up a meeting between the developer and neighbors in an effort to resolve the controversy.

Attorney Gilbert M. Archuletta Jr. said developer G.H. Palmer Associates is willing to meet with the homeowners. He said the developer has complied with the city-approved plans and made its plans available to the neighbors at all times.

“We’ve taken virtually every step, prior to approval of the project, to meet with residents in the area,” Archuletta said. “We made changes in this project in order to accommodate some of the concerns.”

Stan Greenfield, a 28-year resident of the area who complained about the project, said neighbors were misled into supporting the project by the prior property owner, “who somehow neglected to point out” that the plans called for building homes on 25-foot-high dirt pads.

Neighborhood support was critical to council approval of the project in 1986. Palmer is building 760 units on the 48-acre former estate of the late west San Fernando Valley cultural leader Kay Beachy.

“We now find that what has risen on the property is neither compatible with nor acceptable to the residents of the neighborhood, and none of us would have agreed beforehand with the developer’s plan to elevate the building site,” Greenfield said. “For those of us adjacent to the site, the new buildings will intrude on our privacy.”

Greenfield said the neighbors will consult an attorney to determine if they have any legal basis to stop the project.