Council OKs Downzoning Area by Area : Growth: Property owners say building limits will cut land values. Officials want to keep new apartment complexes out of neighborhoods of single-family homes.

Glendale City Council members--rejecting a blanket plan to curb construction of apartments citywide--said Tuesday they want to tailor growth limits to individual neighborhoods.

After property owners complained that blanket downzoning would slash the value of their land, the council told City Manager David H. Ramsay to refine the proposal so council members could decide what limits are needed in different parts of Glendale.

“Instead of the blanket approach, look at it on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis,” Councilman Carl Raggio said.

“I think that makes a lot more sense than chopping everything in half,” Councilman Richard Jutras agreed.

Council members said they want the flexibility to ban large new apartment complexes from neighborhoods dominated by single-family houses. At the same time, they want the power to allow apartments to replace single-family houses in neighborhoods that already are mainly multifamily buildings.

The council’s downzoning hearing will resume in two weeks. Downzoning would change city planning rules, permitting fewer housing units than are now allowed on a lot. Blanket density cuts for apartments and condominiums were recommended Feb. 12 by the Glendale Planning Commission.

The council began reviewing the proposal Feb. 27.

Council members said rapid population growth has contributed to overcrowded schools, traffic jams and parking congestion. City officials believe Glendale may have as many as 200,000 residents, with an infrastructure, including streets, highways and sewers, that can handle the needs of only about 30,000 more people.

Since September, 1988, the city has imposed a moratorium to halt construction of apartments and condominiums until new limits are adopted. Under its current extension, the moratorium will last through Nov. 9, unless the council adopts new rules at an earlier date.

Property owners have complained that the proposed building limits will decrease the value of their land.

“We can’t arbitrarily pick figures and penalize people,” Councilman Larry Zarian said Wednesday. “But we can’t overcrowd the city. I’m caught between the two pressures.”

Zarian said he favors the idea of reviewing areas of the city individually to determine where growth limits are needed. But he said he is uncertain how long the process could take.

“We did that in 1986, and it turned out to be a horror,” he said, referring to Glendale’s previous area-by-area downzoning review.

But because of new computer programs and a more limited scope, Raggio predicted a new neighborhood downzoning plan “will take much less time. I may be optimistic, but I expect to have everything in place by summer.”

Principal Planner Jim Glaser said the city staff will use computers in the coming weeks to tell the council densities that exist in various parts of the city. He said the computer will also be used to determine how area zoning changes would affect the council’s goal of limiting growth citywide.

As another tool to curb the population boom, the council asked the city staff to return in two weeks with a proposed building limit. This would limit the number of building permits issued annually, slowing the pace of growth.

As another growth-control tactic, Zarian asked City Attorney Scott Howard to find out whether the city can limit the number of people living in each apartment and condominium.

“If we are able to control the number of people per apartment, I think that’s the key,” he said.

Zarian also said he wants to make landlords responsible for enforcing occupancy limits.

But Mayor Jerold Milner warned, “I think we should not delude ourselves into thinking that’s going to solve the problem.”

The council’s dissatisfaction with blanket downzoning became apparent Tuesday after several property owners talked about its impact on the value of their land.

Livia D’Alfonso said her single-family home on East Fairview Avenue is now sandwiched between two apartment buildings, leaving her to feel “squished like a rat.” She said a $620,000 offer for her land was withdrawn after the city imposed the building moratorium to discuss downzoning. She said she was recently offered about half the original sum.

“I’d like to sit where you sit and judge your place,” D’Alfonso told the council.

Milner told her that while the council must limit the population growth, “We are going to be very sensitive to the problem you have described.”

D’Alfonso and other property owners challenged a report on land values prepared by John W. McKenna, Glendale’s planning director. The report showed that Glendale land prices have increased steadily between 1983 and 1989, despite the imposition of growth controls.

But the property owners said reducing the number of apartments permitted on their land affects the financial viability of a project, making it less appealing to developers--and less valuable.

Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg argued that city officials are not obligated to guarantee a profit to land speculators. “It’s a capital investment and a risk,” she said. “If it doesn’t work, don’t blame the government.”

But Zarian said downzoning could also hurt elderly residents who were counting on the income from the sale of their home.

“You’re taking people’s retirement away,” he said. “We don’t want to do that.”