Zoning Board OKs Convent in Mountains Despite Protests

Despite protests by several hillside residents, the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals voted Tuesday to allow construction of a controversial convent and retreat house on isolated property high in the mountains above Sunland-Tujunga.

In approving the project by a 4-0 vote, the board ordered the Sisters of Bethany, who proposed the development, to design the convent’s buildings so that they will be inconspicuous from below, Zoning Administrator John J. Parker said.

The board’s decision must be approved by the City Council, which will probably take up the matter within the next three months, Parker said. Sylvia Gross of the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents said homeowners in the area would appeal to the council to overturn the approval.

Gross said that she did not believe that the city could enforce the restrictions, and that an environmental impact report should have been done.

Although he could have required such a report, Parker had said previously that it probably would not have changed minds on either side of the controversy.

House of Prayer

The project, to be called the Bethena Casa de Oracion (House of Prayer) is a 22,285-square-foot development on 5.6 acres near Verdugo Crestline Drive between Estaban Way and Viewpoint Drive. Plans call for an administration building and conference structure, a building with 43 guest rooms and a one-story chapel.

The convent was reduced from 24,600 square feet, which the Santa Barbara-based order of nuns had originally proposed last year.

Residents who live near the site complained to the board that the development would increase traffic, cause flooding and brush fires, scar the mountains, destroy flora and fauna, and attract other developments.

Board members told the opponents that the site is zoned for 22 homes, and that homes would probably have caused more disturbance to the area than the convent.

Sister Donna Marie De Collano said the nuns had found the site by accident, “but we felt maybe it was meant to be.”