Sierra Madre : Action on Hillsides Delayed

With doubts continuing over the legality of its hastily enacted hillside development ordinance, the City Council took a cautious route Tuesday and delayed any further action on the controversial measure.

Instead, the council decided to meet next week with hillside property owners and the Hillside Coalition, a hillside preservation group, to find a solution acceptable to all. Mayor Bruce Crow said he hoped the group could devise a compromise ordinance within six weeks.

In place now is an ordinance that limits hillside construction by creating five vertical zones with densities ranging from five to 40 acres per house. That measure was adopted Jan. 9 after the council discovered that a building moratorium for the hillsides might have expired.

The council planned to amend that with a less-stringent version. But the council decided against adopting the second measure after attorneys representing landowners argued that the council had violated state law in both ordinances by conducting an environmental review instead of a more detailed and complete environmental impact report.