Picus Seeks Issues Checklist for Talks With Developers

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus called on city planners Tuesday to develop a checklist of all issues that should be the discussed when a developer negotiates with homeowners on a proposed project.

“The planning process is complicated, and there are many issues that need to be considered in determining the acceptability of a project,” Picus said. “The list is lengthy, and each item has the potential for causing great unhappiness if it is not fully disclosed and resolved.”

Picus’ request comes in the wake of homeowners’ complaints about a Woodland Hills condominium project in her district. Residents say they did not know when they supported the 760-unit project on the former Beachy estate on Oxnard Street and Shoup Avenue that the homes would be built on 25-foot-high dirt pads, higher than existing homes in the neighborhood. Neighborhood support was crucial to council approval of the project in 1986.

‘Intrude on Privacy’

“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,” said Stan Greenfield, a resident of the area. “For those of us who live adjacent to the site, the new buildings will intrude on our privacy.”

In response to the neighbors’ complaints, Picus last week called for a city investigation of the grading. On Tuesday, city building officials said that the developer, G.H. Palmer Associates, was in compliance with the conditions attached to city approval of the project.

“Inasmuch as the department has determined that the development of the tract is in accordance with applicable laws, the department feels it does not have the authority to stop the work,” said James D. Kaprielian, chief of the grading division of the Building and Safety Department, in a letter to Picus.

A meeting between the project developer and neighbors scheduled for tonight in an attempt to resolve the controversy, said Susan Pasternak, Picus’ press deputy.

Picus’ motion was referred to the council’s Planning and Environment Committee for study.