Complex Too Tall but It Won’t Be Lowered
A long neighborhood dispute over the height of a Woodland Hills condominium project ended Tuesday with a Board of Zoning Appeals ruling that city officials had erroneously measured the building as shorter than it is.
But the developers of the $7.5-million West Hills Condominiums were not ordered to reduce the height of the lofts on their 24 townhouses because the board refused to overturn previous planning decisions that led to the issuance of the building permits, planning officials said.
“Although we won, we really lost,” said homeowner Sidney Perry who has led the yearlong fight to force the developer to lop several feet off the building. “There is nothing left to appeal.”
The board ruled 3 to 0 that Department of Building and Safety officials had used the wrong grade from which to measure the height of the building, classifying it as less than the 45-foot height limit, when it should have been measured about 30 inches over the limit.
But the panel refused to grant the homeowner group’s request to repeal a zoning variance that allowed the construction of the building.
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