Council Lets AA Remain in Meeting Hall

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday voted unanimously to let a popular Alcoholics Anonymous chapter, which had been the target of neighbors’ complaints about traffic and noise, remain at the Studio City meeting hall it has used for more than 40 years.

In a compromise with residents, the council imposed conditions on the North Hollywood chapter that include limiting attendance at meetings.

“This is not an issue of right or wrong,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the Studio City area. “Both sides have legitimate concerns.”

The AA chapter, which started with 40 members in 1946, has been so successful at drawing people to its Monday through Friday night meetings that it now has an average attendance of 200, AA supporters said.

“It’s a famous meeting place for alcoholics,” said the chapter’s attorney, Gail Gordon.

But it was the chapter’s success that prompted neighbors’ concerns, said Renee A. Gunter, president of the Grove Assn., the homeowners group that complained about the AA group.

“We’ve always been supportive of the work of the group,” Gunter said. But, she added, the situation with noise, litter and parking problems caused by AA meetings has become unbearable for the neighborhood.

“When the clubhouse first opened its doors, the neighborhood was not as developed as it is now,” she said.

Last year, Gunter and other residents asked that the facility be shut down, leading a city zoning administrator in June to order the AA to vacate the hall within a year. The administrator said the facility, a former church, does not meet the area’s residential zoning and parking requirements.

That decision was reversed last November by the Board of Zoning Appeals, which set conditions that included limiting attendance to 100 people and changing the time of the 90-minute meetings.

Both sides appealed to the City Council.

On Friday, Gunter’s group backed away from requesting that the facility be closed. Instead, she asked for stricter control over meetings.

“We would like to work together with you and try to find a solution to this continuing problem,” she told council members.

Gordon promised that the organization would work out the problems with its neighbors. A representative of the Studio City Residents Assn. also appeared in support of AA.

“We basically have a facility here that would not be allowed under today’s laws,” Wachs said. “But they are here under yesterday’s laws and are entitled to be here.”

On the other hand, Wachs said, the neighbors are entitled to peace and quiet.

“The two sides have to be able to live and work together,” he added.

At Wachs’ request, the council raised the attendance limit to 125 and set an earlier time for meetings--from 7:30 to 9 p.m. instead of the usual 8 to 9:30 p.m.

Council members agreed to review the situation in a year.