Planners Acknowledge Mistake : Uncorrected Zoning Error Angers Church

Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders who want to sell a landmark Woodland Hills auditorium to an apartment developer were angered Thursday when Los Angeles city planners admitted that they made a mistake in drawing a zoning map for the site--but refused to correct the error.

Church officials said it may take up to a year to petition the City Council to remedy the confusion. They complained that by then their deal to sell the property and move to a larger meeting site in the Santa Clarita Valley may have fallen through.

“It’s an absolute outrage. They make a mistake and they won’t correct it,” said Jim Lacher, a church elder and member of the relocation committee.

At issue is a “zoning consistency map” recently prepared by city officials to depict probable future land-use designations for the site at 20600 Ventura Blvd. Officials are being required under court order to adopt such maps throughout the city.

Church officials say the map was drawn without their knowledge by city planning staffers who incorrectly located the line separating the site’s existing commercial and low-density residential zoning.

The city has placed the dividing line so that there is only enough commercially zoned land to allow construction of about 280 to 300 apartments.

But Lacher and other elders want the line changed so they have enough commercial zoning for 350 apartments. That is the number of units neighboring landowner Jay Wilton intends to build if he can buy the site from the church.

Lacher declined to say how much Wilton has agreed to pay for the site or where in the Santa Clarita Valley the Jehovah’s Witnesses intend to open a new 4,500-seat assembly hall.

Church leaders received the backing of city planning staff members Thursday when they appealed to planning commissioners to change the map.

Although a public hearing held in April prompted planning department Hearing Examiner Anne Howell to recommend against changing the dividing line, Chief Hearing Examiner Bob Rogers told commissioners he decided to overrule Howell after the church asked Mayor Tom Bradley’s office to intercede.

At a meeting between his staff and the mayor’s last week, “more complete information” was obtained and it became clear that the church was correct about the dividing line, Rogers said. “The information we had before was erroneous.”

Planning Commission President William Luddy balked at changing the map, however. He said that the commission frequently has heard landowners complain that zoning consistency maps were inaccurate but that his panel always held firm because it was afraid of setting troublesome precedents by giving in. “I understand the pain and confusion,” Luddy said.

Commissioners voted 4 to 0 not to change the map, and Luddy recommended that the church take its case to the City Council.

Lacher said Jehovah’s Witnesses may take their case to court if the delay causes their sale to collapse.

He acknowledged that Wilton will demolish the well-known 2,900-seat domed auditorium, built 25 years ago as the now-defunct Valley Music Theater.

“Nothing would please us more” than to sell the dome and its 8.3-acre site to anyone wishing to preserve it as a cultural center, Lacher said. But so far, no one has stepped forward.