Developer Will Pay Culver City $280,000 : Funds for Recreation Facilities Are Condition for Building of Townhouses

The owner of a defunct Culver City sports club has decided to proceed with construction of townhouses on the site, despite the City Council’s condition that he give the city $280,000 for recreation facilities.

“We’re prepared to pay it . . . but we will not do so willingly,” Mitch Chupack, a representative for property owner Richard K. Ehrlich, said last week. Chupack said he was finishing plans to submit to the building department.

Ehrlich proposed the 30-townhouse development when he closed the Westside Sports Club in September after nearly 15 years of barely breaking even. The club at 4901 Overland Ave. featured tennis courts and a swimming pool.

After rejecting the townhouse plan in April, the City Council two weeks ago approved it with the $280,000 condition, saying the development means a substantial loss of recreational facilities. The $280,000 is the approximate cost of building four tennis courts at $70,000 each, a figure the city’s recreation division derived in consultation with Los Angeles city and county recreation officials.

Some neighbors of the site and a former city planning commissioner have criticized the city for insisting on the contribution from Ehrlich as a condition for approving the project, saying it was tantamount to extortion.

Ehrlich sued the city in July, accusing it of taking his property without just compensation and denying his civil rights by requiring him to provide “public recreational facilities . . . despite the lack of any legal requirement for him to do so.” Chupack said the suit was now “in limbo.”

City Atty. Joseph Pannone said the $280,000 would have to be paid before the city issues certificates allowing occupancy of the townhouses.

Mayor Jozelle Smith called the developer’s decision a “good-faith effort.” She has asked city staff to explore how the city might set up a system under which developers pay fees or contribute land for recreational facilities.