Apartment Owners Protest Plan to Cut New Rentals
Angry apartment owners say they would lose money if Glendale approves a proposal to cut in half the number of apartments allowed to be built.
The owners challenged the legality of the city’s plan during a Planning Commission hearing on the issue last week.
“We’ve been downzoned once in 1986 and we’re not going to take it again,” said apartment owner Margarita Gruber. “Something will have to be done so that we are reimbursed for our loss.”
About 50 residents, mostly developers and apartment owners, attended the Wednesday night meeting at the Glendale Public Library, and the vast majority opposed the city plan.
Several apartment owners said that if the proposed zoning changes occurred they would have trouble securing loans from banks to refurbish or renovate their buildings, because their buildings would already have more units than allowed by the new zoning.
“I see no benefit in downzoning,” said rental owner Carl Sherer. “The apartment houses would not disappear, and the owners would face the hardship of having a nonconforming building.”
Others said the plan would drive rental prices out of reach. “If I could only build four units on my property, I would have to charge $2,000 a month,” said landlord Marilyn Dresser.
Several speakers also said it didn’t make sense to impose limits on residential growth while the city continues to woo new business into its commercial redevelopment district. The new businesses cause hundreds of new employees to move into the city every year.
“I think the city is sending a message to those employees: ‘You can work here, but you can’t live here unless you are a top-level executive,’ ” said apartment owner W.T. O’Neil. “If the city is serious about limiting the population, then the high-rises shouldn’t be built” in the commercial district, he said.
Homeowner Bob Dunlap, the only speaker to favor the city proposal, said: “Development is a risk investment. If you want a guaranteed investment, you should buy government bonds.”
The Planning Commission will meet again Monday at 3:30 p.m., to hear more testimony and possibly vote on the proposal at the Municipal Services Building at Broadway and Glendale Avenue. A hearing before City Council is scheduled for Feb. 27.
