Denial of Interim Hillside Development Limits Urged

A Los Angeles planning official has recommended disapproval of an emergency measure that would restrict development on Sunland-Tujunga hillsides until the community district plan is rewritten.

In a report to the Planning Commission, Hearing Officer Charles Rausch wrote that the interim control ordinance is not necessary because only three subdivision applications had been filed in the last 18 months for hillside areas. Rausch also noted that no new applications have been filed since two public hearings were held on the matter in June and July.

In addition, “there are adequate remedies in the current Municipal Code and in the community plans to regulate subdivision design,” Rausch wrote in his report, which was issued last week. Rausch was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

But Arline De Sanctis, chief deputy to Councilman Joel Wachs, the ordinance’s sponsor, said existing measures do not go far enough in controlling growth in an area that is increasingly popular with developers.

“This is one of the few areas in Los Angeles that has a wide expanse of undeveloped territory,” De Sanctis said. “The councilman’s chief concern is to limit the amount of new development in the hillsides of Sunland-Tujunga, to keep them from looking like Burbank and Glendale.”

De Sanctis said the proposed ordinance would limit hillside development on slopes with a 15% grade or more. She said the measure is needed to adequately control growth in the Sunland-Tujunga area until the community district plan is rewritten, a process that could take from six months to a year.

Sylvia Gross, director of the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents, said she is disappointed with the examiner’s report and plans to write a letter to each of the five members of the Planning Commission in protest.

“I think this stinks,” Gross said. “Mr. Rausch doesn’t acknowledge the fact that over 5,000 residents signed a petition supporting” the proposed ordinance. Gross has maintained that increased density on the hillsides could result in flooding and mudslides.

The Planning Commission will consider the examiner’s report at a public hearing Sept. 14. The commission will submit recommendations to the City Council, which will make the final decision.