Special Hearing Granted on Underground Garage

An associate Los Angeles zoning administrator said Thursday he will hold a special hearing next month to listen to the concerns of Encino homeowners angered over his approval of an underground parking garage for a new motel.

The administrator, William E. Lillenberg, said he would meet with homeowners March 21 to determine if their objections would have changed his mind in granting a conditional-use permit for the project.

The homeowners had said the owner of the Encino Inn, King Chai, misled them about the new motel, which would replace a deteriorating motel at 17448 Ventura Blvd. They said he told them he planned to build a surface parking lot, not an underground structure.

Chai said that he had always intended to build an underground lot and that his plans and diagrams had clearly outlined the structure. But a zoning administration notice on the project that was sent to homeowners last August did not indicate that Chai wanted to build a subterranean lot.

Members of the Encino Property Owners Assn. said an underground lot would permit Chai to seek city approval to increase the new motel to a size incompatible with the adjacent neighborhood of single-family homes.

Rob Glushon, president of the property owners group, said members did not attend the hearing because they did not realize the proposed parking would be underground.

The group hailed Lillenberg’s decision to hear them as a victory. “Score one for the homeowner,” Glushon said. “We’re very excited.”