Angry Residents Seek Summit Talk on Height Law : Developers Begin Rush to Capture High Ground

Taking a cue from a Studio City builder who turned a three-story building into one that is seven levels high, other developers apparently are rushing to construct tall structures on slopes next to Ventura Boulevard.

Angry Studio City residents blame the rush on a loophole in a 2-year-old height moratorium that gives a height bonus to developers who artificially divide a building and then “step” its parts up a hillside.

Homeowners said they will demand a summit meeting with three Los Angeles City Council members who represent Studio City to ask that the moratorium be tightened. They say they pressed for the 1986 moratorium to prevent the boulevard from becoming walled in by high-rises, as has happened in parts of Encino and Sherman Oaks.

The issue is critical to Studio City because steep slopes extend several miles along the south side of Ventura Boulevard in an area that has rapidly become the most sought-after real estate in the San Fernando Valley.

The hillside stepping equates to moratorium sidestepping, residents said. Instead of a maximum 45-foot height, developers can build up to 57 feet high.

“The only solution is to get some new legislation to protect us,” said Polly Ward, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. She called for the meeting with council members Michael Woo, Joel Wachs and John Ferraro.

The homeowners’ showdown call came after a developer’s representative revealed plans for what city officials consider a “three-story” building for the southeast corner of Ventura Boulevard and Blue Canyon Drive.

Architect Peter Katzman said Tuesday night that developer Irwin Spector’s proposed five-level structure “fully meets the code . . . it’s 100% acceptable.”

Floors one through five will consist of shops, two levels of parking, apartments and apartment lofts, Katzman said during a meeting with about 75 homeowners. He said the structure will be stepped up the hill.

The project, listed as a $2-million development on city permit applications, is unusual in that it contains a mixture of retail shops and 33 apartment units, Katzman said.

Spector’s plans are legal under city laws, said Nicolino Delli Quadri, the Department of Building and Safety’s chief plan checker for the Valley.

“With a difference in elevation of 20 feet on a sloping lot, you can add 12 feet to the 45-foot maximum,” Delli Quadri said.

Because Spector’s proposed building would climb up the hill, its rear portion will be classified as a separate building from the front portion. “We’ve determined these are two separate three-story buildings,” Delli Quadri said.

A similar determination for a controversial office building under construction at the southeast corner of Ventura Boulevard and Fairway Avenue previously sparked outrage among Studio City residents.

Homeowners filed a flurry of lawsuits and protests this year over that structure, which is classified by the city as three stepped buildings. Although it is a single structure being built under a three-story permit, the Fairway building actually measures about 95 feet tall, homeowners contend.

While one suit was dismissed, other court actions are pending. The city’s Building and Safety Commission also is investigating the case. Last week, Woo called for the removal of the Fairway building’s top, view-obscuring floors.

According to Ward, negotiations are under way to build a similar stepped structure on land near the Fairway building.

“All that hillside property along the boulevard can be maxed out with this stepping situation unless we get some protection,” she said.

Daniel M. Shapiro, a former president of the residents group and a lawyer involved in the fight against the Fairway building, charged that the city stands to repeat its mistakes with Spector’s building.

“It’s one building,” Shapiro said. “It’s a farce to consider it two.”