Lawndale Offers Amnesty for Buildings OKd in Error

In a move that astonished city planners and developers alike, the Lawndale City Council has adopted an amnesty plan that will give final city approvals to projects whose building permits were granted in error.

Under the plan, no penalties will be imposed to compensate the city for shortcomings in the projects, which typically do not meet city parking or setback requirements.

The city discovered last fall that because of errors made by its Planning Department, a number of developers had received building permits for projects that do not comply with city building codes.

Earlier Penalties

The amnesty plan, which will allow developers to complete their projects without penalties, was particularly surprising because the council had imposed penalties earlier when deciding two such cases:

About an hour before it approved the amnesty plan for projects with faulty permits, the council on Thursday imposed usage restrictions on just such a project--a $350,000 commercial development with 27 parking spaces rather than the required 33.

A month ago, the council required the developer of a 4-unit apartment complex to allocate one unit for senior housing to compensate the city for having one parking space fewer than the five required.

Mayor Sarann Kruse, Councilwoman Carol Norman and Councilman Dan McKenzie voted for the amnesty plan, and Councilmen Harold E. Hofmann and Larry Rudolph against.

Norman and McKenzie argued that it was unfair for Lawndale to penalize developers for errors made by the city. “Fair is fair. . . . Let them finish,” McKenzie said.

Kruse said Friday that she voted for the plan because she believes that the city should admit it erred and let developers finish their projects. “We should swallow our pride, let those projects go and make sure we are not allowing (more errors) to continue,” she said.

But in an interview Friday, Rudolph said the plan amounts to giving developers a blank check to build projects with insufficient parking. He noted that the council has no idea how many projects will eventually qualify for amnesty or how severe their deficiencies may be.

‘Residents to Pay’

“The residents of Lawndale are going to pay,” he said, saying that projects short of parking create more congestion on the city’s residential streets.

Although the council specifically gave amnesty to the residential project it penalized a month ago, there is disagreement on whether the commercial project will ultimately qualify for amnesty.

City Atty. David J. Aleshire said Friday that he cannot advise the city staff to ignore the conditions imposed on the commercial project. The conditions, which regulate parking use and the type of businesses allowed at the project, were imposed after lengthy negotiations conducted by the city attorney and city planners.

Informed of the amnesty plan Friday morning, attorney Alex Powell said he believes that the commercial project at 16711 Hawthorne Blvd. should qualify for amnesty and that the conditions should be set aside.

City officials and council observers said they fear that the council’s action Thursday may subject the city to lawsuits from the two developers whose projects were delayed for many months while the city debated how to handle the erroneously issued permits. Indeed, Aleshire said that Powell called him Friday morning and indicated he may sue on behalf of William Cochran, who owns the commercial project, if the city excludes it from amnesty.

It is not known how many improperly approved projects are under way, but at least six more apartment projects are also expected to be eligible for amnesty, according to Planning Director James Arnold.