Hillside Development Moratorium Approved

The Glendale City Council unanimously approved a moratorium Tuesday limiting development in a quiet hillside neighborhood to single-family dwellings.

The moratorium is a significant victory for area homeowners, who have been trying for months to thwart a developer’s plan to build a large apartment complex on Highline Road in southeast Glendale.

The freeze will remain in effect until mid-November, when the city’s Planning Commission will consider the homeowners’ request that the street be permanently rezoned R-1 to allow only single-family homes.

Highline residents have barraged city officials with letters and phone calls since learning last year that Glendale developer Val Levin was planning to build a 14-unit apartment complex on their street. They complained that the substandard, 24-foot-wide Highline Road was already overcrowded, and said the neighborhood was too fragile to absorb the traffic increases that would accompany the development.

‘More and More Aware’

Apparently their efforts are having an effect.

“I have become more and more aware of our need to have more R-1 zoning,” Councilman Jerold Milner said. “Here are people who see the quality of life in their neighborhood as being more important than their short-term ability to sell a piece of property for a higher price. I think this is a very healthy thing.”

In approving the moratorium, the City Council gave homeowners their second victory in as many months. In August, the Glendale Environmental and Planning Board ruled that work on the apartment complex could not proceed until Levin filed an environmental impact study. Because such studies are expensive and often take months to prepare, Marlene Roth, who represents Levin, said the developer has been reconsidering his plans and may now decide to build single-family dwellings.

In a related matter, the City Council voted Tuesday to exempt the Highline homeowners from the fees normally assessed to those requesting a zoning change. The fees can run as high as $3,000.

In other action late Tuesday, the City Council unexpectedly imposed a five-month moratorium on new moderate- and high-density residential development throughout the city. The unanimously approved ordinance thwarts any attempt by developers to rush proposed new projects through the permit process before the city imposes stricter rules on density, landscaping and parking requirements.