Final OK Withheld for Disputed Condo Units

In a victory for Woodland Hills residents, Los Angeles building officials Tuesday ordered occupancy permits for a $7.5-million hilltop condominium project withheld until a continuing controversy over its construction is settled.

The city’s Building and Safety Commission said the final permits for the nearly completed West Hills Condominiums development will not be issued until city officials resolve questions about the project’s height and shape.

Neighboring homeowners have complained that city inspectors mistakenly allowed the project to be built a few feet too tall and a few yards too close to its rear property line.

City zoning officials last month ruled that several loft structures atop the 24-unit building are too tall to meet a 45-foot height requirement imposed by the city on the project 10 years ago.

The City Council is scheduled to meet next week to determine whether the building violates a 134-foot back-yard setback requirement that was also imposed by officials in 1978 and 1979.

Temporary Certificates

Building and safety commissioners meeting in Van Nuys said they will authorize temporary certificates of occupancy--which would allow developers Ed Dade and James R. Gary to begin selling the luxury townhouse units--when officials clear various parts of the structure.

That could start happening for the building’s lower floors after July 5, when the City Council deals with the setback issue. Officials said Tuesday that they anticipate that the council will support earlier rulings by the city’s Planning Commission and the council’s Planning and Environment Committee that the setback is proper as constructed.

The height issue could take longer to unravel. City officials have requested a specialized survey to determine exactly how many inches or feet should be shaved from the tops of the four offending lofts.

If Woodland Hills homeowners are unhappy with that determination, they have a right to protest further to city officials, which could add weeks to occupancy approval for the condominium’s top floor.

The height controversy could end up costing Gary and Dade about $340,000.

Lofts Into Skylights

To comply with the city’s 45-foot height limit for the site at 20700 Ventura Blvd., Gary said, he and Dade will rip the floors out of all eight lofts to turn them into skylights. As skylights, the structures will be allowed to extend slightly above the 45-foot level.

But the roofs of four of the lofts-turned-skylights will have to be lowered slightly to conform to city height rules.

Gary said the redesign and reconstruction of those four will cost up to $100,000. The loss of the lofts as livable space will reduce the value of each of the top-floor condominiums about $30,000, he said.

“We could seek a variance for the lofts and I’m sure we’d win, but that would take up to nine months,” Gary said, explaining that the top-floor units could not be sold during that period. In a letter to the commission, Gary and Dade complained that a quick sale of the 24 units will make a difference “whether this building survives or not. . . .”

About half of the units--to be priced from $269,000 to $425,000--have been spoken for by potential buyers, Gary said. “We’ll probably sell out in a week” once the units are put on the market .