Renewal Project for Hollywood Wins 2nd Battle

The state Court of Appeal has ruled that the city of Los Angeles properly considered the environmental implications of the 1,100-acre Hollywood redevelopment project when the City Council approved it in 1986.

A ruling against the city on Jan. 30 would have brought the $922-million renewal effort to a halt and forced the Community Redevelopment Agency to undertake a lengthy new environmental review.

“We are pleased as all get out,” said R. Bruce Tepper, an attorney for the redevelopment agency. “Environmental compliance in the context of any land-use decision is critical. It can knock you out.”

This was the second setback in less than a week for critics of Hollywood renewal.

On Jan. 24, the city and redevelopment agency won a separate court battle over the project. A Superior Court judge let stand a decision allowing the city to replace a citizens advisory committee controlled by redevelopment critics with a new group favoring the project.

The Hollywood redevelopment plan calls for investing $922 million in public funds in central Hollywood over 30 years to spruce up old buildings, construct new ones, address traffic and housing problems and provide public amenities. The project area includes about 35,000 residents and covers an area bordered roughly by La Brea Avenue on the west, Serrano Avenue on the east, Franklin Avenue on the north and Santa Monica Boulevard and Fountain Avenue on the south.

Hollywood businessman David Morgan, who filed the suit challenging the city’s environmental review of the redevelopment project, said he will ask the appellate court to reconsider the case. If he loses again, he said, he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

“I will keep fighting,” said Morgan, who runs a camera shop on Sunset Boulevard. “I am not giving up on this. It is too important an issue.”

In the ruling released Tuesday, a three-judge panel rejected Morgan’s claim that the project’s environmental impact report was flawed because it did not discuss the medical effects of potential relocation on residents. Morgan contended that medical research shows forced relocation causes “severe emotional stress . . . upon the human spirit and body often leading to illness and death.”

The panel also rejected Morgan’s claim that the Community Redevelopment Agency did not follow proper procedures in holding public hearings and releasing information to the public about the report. Morgan said the agency’s actions deprived him and others of “due process” under the law.

Morgan, who lives in Los Feliz, has been one of the most diligent critics of the 3 1/2-year-old redevelopment project. Although originally represented by an attorney, he acted as his own lawyer during the appeal, writing his own brief and arguing the case in court.

Morgan has also joined several other Hollywood activists in a separate lawsuit challenging the validity of the redevelopment plan, a blueprint for renewal approved by the City Council in 1986. A Superior Court judge ruled against the group last year, but Morgan and the others have appealed.

Tepper, the redevelopment agency attorney, said last week’s ruling “sets a good framework” for the Court of Appeal to consider the second lawsuit, which he predicted will be resolved “fairly quickly.”