Need for Seniors Housing May Override ‘Nuisances,’ Hidden Hills Planners Say
A proposed lower-cost apartment building for senior citizens in Hidden Hills may not be compatible with a five-story office building that would be built next to it, according to an environmental-impact report the city released Friday.
But the environmental report, prepared by the city’s planning staff, also states that the area’s lack of lower-cost housing may be a more important consideration for the City Council.
The report was released a day after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge told Hidden Hills officials that he is prepared to order them into court to approve the lower-cost housing.
The report suggests that the proposed 75,000-square-foot office building and its about 250 employees could cause “nuisances” for the about 100 residents of the senior complex.
“Office-related traffic, trash pickup and other common activities found at office sites are likely to disturb the peace and quiet of the apartment site, which has no outdoor recreational facilities,” the report states.
“In addition, the large height and bulk of the proposed office building is likely to cast extensive shadows onto the apartment building and present an imposing mass which ‘closes in’ the apartment building,” the report continues.
But, the report adds: “The availability of affordably priced housing may be more important, however, to local households with limited incomes and presently undesirable living conditions.”
Hidden Hills has no multifamily housing, and the average home price in 1988 in the city was $843,579, the report said.
The parts of the report that criticize the senior housing are likely to provide opponents of the project with ammunition. Earlier this week, some of the nearly 50 residents who attended a City Council meeting complained about the size of the commercial building.
The environmental report also provides more details about the entire 25-acre proposal by Tarzana developer Danny Howard. On 21 acres inside Hidden Hills’ gates, Howard would build nine hilltop-style luxury homes. The remaining 4 acres would be outside the gates and would accommodate the five-story commercial building and a four-story apartment building containing 48 units.
The 48 apartments would consist of four efficiencies, 35 one-bedroom units, eight two-bedroom units and a manager’s apartment, the report states. A scale for rents has yet to be determined, it adds.
The City Council is considering the project as a result of the settlement of a lawsuit filed against it by Los Angeles County in 1984. The lawsuit concerned the city’s use of a redevelopment agency to fund a flood-control project and a state law requiring a part of redevelopment money to be spent on lower-cost housing.
On Thursday, Judge R. William Schoettler Jr. told Hidden Hills officials that the city must abide by the July, 1989, settlement, which took the form of a court order that Hidden Hills provide lower-cost housing on the Howard property.
