Tempers Climb as Tall House Is Built in Hills

Property owners in Sherman Oaks are feuding over whether they live on Knob Hill--or on Snob Hill.

Residents charged Wednesday that a partially built, $1-million home is an oversized eyesore that is being built illegally on a scenic hilltop next to Beverly Glen Boulevard.

But house builder Zev Levavi charged that his soon-to-be neighbors are elitists who resent the fact that his legal, three-bedroom home will obscure some of their views of a Santa Monica Mountains canyon 1 1/2 miles south of the Ventura Freeway.

At the urging of homeowners, Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky late Wednesday asked city building officials to order an immediate halt to the construction on grounds that Levavi’s house violates zoning rules for the Mulholland Scenic Corridor.

Yaroslavsky said Levavi’s project should be stopped until he submits his plans to a citizens advisory committee that reviews development plans along the 22-mile length of Mulholland Drive at the southern edge of the San Fernando Valley.

Disputes Illegality Claim

By day’s end, the city Building and Safety Department had not acted on Yaroslavsky’s request. Levavi, however, contended he has written proof that his house has passed scenic corridor muster.

Homeowners living along Knob Hill Drive beneath Levavi’s lot have complained that the 45-foot-high house is so tall that it interferes with views from the nearby scenic corridor. And they charged that it is so big that it crowds Levavi’s lot and forces workers to trespass in neighbors’ yards and illegally park in a no-stopping zone on busy Beverly Glen.

Neighboring landowner Ray Franco said workers chopped down 30 small trees on his Knob Hill lot without permission and tossed scrap lumber onto his property. Homeowner Richard Trail said workers have sent rocks tumbling down the hill into cars in his driveway. He said workers rammed his house with a truck last week and knocked a hole in a wall.

“Nobody is disputing a person’s right to buy property and build a home on it,” Trail said. “But respect for the neighborhood is expected.”

Trail, Franco and a half-dozen neighbors who met with Yaroslavsky aide Marlene Bronson on Wednesday denied they are being elitists over Levavi’s house.

Levavi, 35, of Studio City said he believes differently. He said he is building the house for himself and his wife. Before construction started, she went to neighbors “to apologize in advance” for any disruption from the construction, he said.

“What am I building here, a nuclear reactor?” he asked. “I haven’t taken anything from anybody. I’m on my property, and it’s perfectly legal.

“They are snobs. They have to deal with that problem. I think my house is going to be very nice. It for sure will benefit the whole area . . . . I have the same right to be here as they do.”

Levavi said he plans to turn the dispute over to his attorney.

His neighbors said they have done the same.

Homeowners’ lawyer Rob Glushon said he has been told by city planners that Levavi lacks Mulholland Scenic Corridor approval. He said he expects a stop-work order to be issued today.

Violet Moyer, the Mulholland corridor chief planner who signed approval to Levavi’s plans on Nov. 22, refused Wednesday to discuss the legality of the house.

A proposed city ordinance recently passed by the Planning Commission would allow a house up to 45 feet high on Levavi’s lot. Until the ordinance is voted on by the City Council, a committee of Mulholland corridor citizens has been given authority to review plans informally and ask developers to comply with the proposed law. The ordinance would affect property within 1/2 mile of Mulholland.

“It’s real complicated,” Moyer said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to discuss it at the moment.”

Her assistant, city planner King Woods, said Moyer has authority to approve plans without referring them directly to the citizens committee. He said less than half of all development requests along the Mulholland corridor end up being reviewed by the committee.