Council Studies Measure to Limit Building Permits

The Glendale City Council, in order to slow the pace of development, has asked its planning staff to start work on an ordinance limiting the number of building permits issued each year.

The ordinance would limit building permits to about 1,200 per year, with about 500 earmarked for low-income housing.

In the three years prior to the enactment of a moratorium on apartment construction in September, 1988, the city issued an average of about 3,000 permits a year.

Currently there is room for 40,000 new units in the city, planners say. If a tough package of zoning restrictions becomes effective as expected before the end of the year, that number could be reduced by at least half.

City officials fear that if the city’s rapid growth rate is not slowed, a variety of city services--some of which are already stretched to the limit-- will be unable to keep up with residents’ needs.

On Monday, the City Council met with its staff and a Sacramento-based consultant who specializes in growth control strategies to discuss whether it was legally feasible to establish building limits.

Placing a ceiling on the number of building permits is the toughest growth control strategy to defend in court but is legally feasible, Laurence Mintier, the consultant, told the council.

Under state law, he said, the city must provide its fair share of housing according to the region’s needs. Building limits should be higher than the fair share allocation in order for them to be relatively immune from legal challenge, he said.

Under Glendale’s fair share allocation, which is determined by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, the city must provide 1,120 new housing units per year until 1994. Of that number, SCAG requires that 40.1% go to low- and very-low-income housing.

Due to high property costs and lack of financial support from the city, only a handful of low-income housing structures have been built in Glendale.