A Routine Planning Hearing Turns Raucous : Reading of Affidavit Touches Off Row Over Liquor Licenses at the Beverly Connection

A routine hearing blew up into a shouting match Thursday when a Los Angeles planning commissioner read out an affidavit charging that homeowner groups offered to drop their opposition to the issuance of liquor licenses at the Beverly Connection shopping center in exchange for $250,000.

The statement, read into the record by Planning Commission Vice President Theodore Stein Jr., came from a consultant who said he was present in January when a lawyer for the homeowner groups said they would drop their objections to the liquor licenses in exchange for a donation of $250,000 to their research fund. “They may go down to $150,000,” he quoted the attorney as saying.

Such an agreement would have been similar to a 1988 settlement reached by the Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn., the Burton Way Homeowners Assn. (then known as the South of Burton Way Homeowners Assn.), and another homeowner group, Friends of Westwood, with the developer of the Ma Maison Sofitel hotel after the three groups objected to its liquor licenses.

Unsolicited Copy

“The Ma Maison agreement rubbed me the wrong way,” said Stein, adding that he received an unsolicited copy of consultant Harold R. Brewer’s affidavit in the mail.

“I want people to come before the commission and make arguments on the merits and not because of some deal,” he said.

Stein did not mention any of the groups by name and insisted that his action in reading the document was not directed at them, but Harald R. Hahn, president of the Burton Way group, responded angrily.

“It is a clear implication,” he said, seizing the microphone to deny the suggestion that the homeowner organizations could be bought off. He and Stein launched into a spirited argument despite repeated admonitions from Commission President William G. Luddy for Hahn to return to his seat.

“Our honor is at stake,” Hahn said. “We request that it be stricken from the record.”

Luddy denied the request.

The outburst came after Hahn and two allies, Diana Plotkin, president of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn., and Laura Lake, president of Friends of Westwood, objected to zone changes that would cap development of the Beverly Connection at its current size of 291,000 square feet, saying the changes were inadequate.

The changes were proposed by City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who has been at odds with the three homeowner group leaders for more than a year. The homeowner leaders have accused Yaroslavsky of caving in to commercial interests, and Lake unsuccessfully tried to unseat him in the April election.

In his own comments to the Planning Commission, Yaroslavsky made a point of noting that no more than “five or six” opponents were present despite their claim to represent thousands of residents.

“I represent 23,000 people who voted for me,” Yaroslavsky noted.

Restrictions Removed

The opponents criticized the zoning changes for removing earlier restrictions on the size of individual stores that would be allowed to operate at the Beverly Connection, which occupies the southeast corner of the intersection of La Cienega and Beverly boulevards. Other corners of the same busy insection are occupied by the Beverly Center shopping mall and the Ma Maison Sofitel.

They warned of severe impacts on the already congested traffic at the site and at nearby intersections and said that the zoning of the entire parcel for commercial use would rule out the possible building of housing on the central portion of the property. The central area is currently zoned for residential use, although it has been used as a parking area for more than 40 years.

But Yaroslavsky said that the new zoning would restrict development of the parcel to well below the maximum that would have been allowable previously.

The Beverly Connection now houses a Ralphs market, a sporting goods store and a music and video outlet. Plans call for construction of a six-screen movie complex and several restaurants.

The Planning Commission adopted the zone changes by a 5-0 vote.