L.A. OKs Moratorium on Building Near Park

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a 90-day moratorium on building and demolition near the Hansen Dam Recreation Area.

The moratorium is aimed at protecting a 0.85-acre wedge of Lake View Terrace property that the city wants to turn into a park entrance. The owner of the property, Hayden Hamilton, had applied for a permit to build an 18,000-square-foot auto repair shop on the land--a triangle of property southeast of Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street.

The lot houses a used-car lot and a fast-food restaurant that is popular with transients who live in the park. It is zoned for highway-oriented commercial uses.

City parks officials said they thought that they had negotiated to buy the property from its former owner, Fred Zullo. Zullo sold the property to Hamilton in April.

Zullo said the city procrastinated so long on its offer that he decided to sell to someone else. He said he notified city officials in October that he was planning to sell it if they did not come up with the $525,000 they had offered.

Hamilton, who paid more than $600,000 for the property, said he is not pleased by the new restrictions. “They’re just railroading this through,” he said.