Builder Offers to Delay Controversial Project

The developer of a proposed affordable housing development in Hidden Hills has offered to hold the property for a year to give city officials time to resolve a controversy over the project.

Danny Howard made the offer Monday night at a meeting of the Hidden Hills City Council. He also said he would consider selling the 2 1/2-acre parcel to the city for $1.2 million.

Howard’s entire project would encompass 25 acres, with nine luxury houses built on 20 acres inside the town’s gates. The remaining five acres would be outside the gates and would be split between a commercial building and the City Council’s proposed 46-unit affordable apartment or condominium building for senior citizens.

The affordable housing portion of the project has generated controversy among some Hidden Hills residents. City officials have said the housing would settle a lawsuit by Los Angeles County and an attorney over Hidden Hills’ use of a redevelopment agency. But in a poll conducted last month by the council, about two-thirds of the respondents opposed the council’s plan. Hidden Hills is a community made up almost exclusively of single-family houses.

Under the offer Howard made Monday, the council would continue to hold public hearings on the luxury houses and the commercial building, but Howard would agree not to oppose a 12-month delay in the council’s decision on what to do with the low-cost housing parcel.

The council took Howard’s proposal under advisement, along with suggestions by Councilman H. Brian Herdeg that the city consider buying the parcel for a new city hall site.