There Stays the Neighborhood: Housing Development Rejected : Sepulveda: Admitting that they made a mistake, planners decide to preserve a rustic refuge amid urban sprawl.
City planning officials, saying they made a mistake three years ago, Thursday rejected a proposed housing project and took the first step toward preventing future development in a Sepulveda neighborhood where residents raise horses and other livestock.
The Los Angeles Planning Commission voted unanimously to turn down a proposal by developer Jeffrey Kamen of Sherman Oaks, who wanted to replace one home on a 1.47-acre lot in the 9600 block of Lemona Avenue with 10 new houses.
In rejecting Kamen’s proposal, the commission backed away from a plan it had approved in 1986 that would have allowed developers to build more housing in a quarter-square-mile area bounded by Lassen Street on the north, Plummer Street on the south, Columbus Avenue on the west and Lemona Avenue on the east.
The commissioners ordered city planners to hold public hearings on limiting residential development in the neighborhood to about one unit per half acre--the area’s original zoning designation before the 1986 plan allowing denser development was approved.
“We just clearly made a mistake” in approving a plan that allowed more houses, Commissioner Theodore Stein Jr. said Thursday.
The 1986 Mission Hills-Panorama City-Sepulveda District Plan called for “low to medium” housing development in the area but did not establish specific densities, said Bob Rogers, the commission’s chief hearing examiner. It was approved based on the erroneous assumption that the neighborhood was run-down and needed development, he said. In fact, the area’s semirural character is an improvement on the urbanized neighborhoods near Sepulveda Boulevard, which is notorious for drug activity, crime and prostitution, Rogers said.
“We constantly face the dilemma of trying to create more housing, but this is a good example of the kind of a neighborhood we want to retain,” said Commissioner Fernando Torres-Gil.
Kamen, who had sought approval for a specific zoning designation allowing for the 10 homes, said he was disappointed by the commission’s decision but “we’re a large developer, and we wanted to test the water. We’ll just move on.”
Three years ago, the 170 property owners in the area were unaware the city held public hearings on the issue, even though notices were published in newspapers, Rogers said. The plan dealt with an 11-square-mile area, and “we don’t have the money to notify everybody by mail,” he said.
Residents made known their wishes Thursday. Dozens testified and more than 50 others sent letters urging rejection of Kamen’s proposal and adoption of the lower density zoning. Arline DeSanctis, a deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs, supported them.
“I have chickens, geese, turkeys and birds,” said longtime resident Beryl Moss, vice president of the Bird Assn. of California. “It’s a wonderful place for birds like the white-throated hummingbird, and the wild parrots in the area depend on the fruit trees. They’re already impacted by the row after row of townhouses south of Plummer.”
Norm Gottlieb, president of the Sepulveda homeowners group, said victorious residents planned a party to celebrate Thursday night.
