Hillside Building Ban in Glendora Fails by a Vote

Despite receiving a majority vote, a 45-day hillside building moratorium was rejected by the City Council this week, though other recommendations by the Mayor’s Hillside Conservancy Advisory Committee were approved.

State law requires a four-fifths majority to approve local building moratoriums. The Glendora proposal was supported by only three of the five council members: Mayor Leonard Martyns, Lois Shade and David Bodley. Mayor Pro Tem Bob Kuhn and Councilman Larry Glenn voted against it.

Judy Lawford, president of the slow-growth organization Glendora Pride, said her group was “extremely disappointed” by the moratorium’s failure to win approval.

“We’re seriously considering (circulating petitions and) going to initiative with a two-year moratorium,” she said.

The council did unanimously approve a key suggestion by the hillside committee--to establish a private, nonprofit conservancy to preserve Glendora’s hillsides. City Atty. Cheryl Kane will work with committee representatives to set up that organization.

On a 3-2 vote, with Kuhn and Glenn dissenting, the council decided to let residents vote April 10 on whether to impose a special property tax to fund purchases of land for conservation. The tax would cost property owners 20 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

Dr. Tim Ferguson, president of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the hillside committee, said the chamber submitted petitions with more than 1,500 signatures opposing the tax to City Hall on Tuesday. He said he was confident that the measure would be “resoundingly defeated” at the polls next year.

The council rejected another hillside committee proposal--to raise the sales tax by a quarter of a cent--after Kane said state law does not allow cities to do this.

The committee had suggested the freeze on development, which would have gone into effect immediately, to give the city time to toughen current guidelines for hillside construction.

The moratorium would have affected more than 2,000 acres of privately held land bordering South Hills Park in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Kuhn said he rejected the moratorium in favor of working “as hard and as fast as we can” to implement the committee’s other recommendations. Glenn said the building ban might have infringed on landowners’ property rights and added that reviewing building regulations would take longer than 45 days.

“I see the danger of extending (the moratorium) up to two years,” he said.

The council asked the city staff to revise hillside construction guidelines according to the committee’s recommendations, which include requiring scale models of all projects. The changes will be reviewed by the Planning Commission next month.

The council also ordered a citywide tree preservation ordinance to be prepared within 60 days.