Plan Affecting Construction of Hillside Houses Gets 1st Airing

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission held its first public hearing Thursday on a proposed ordinance that would place strict new conditions on hillside construction of single-family houses throughout the city, including the San Fernando Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

As proposed, the measure would affect an unspecified number of small, irregular-shaped lots by limiting the size of new houses, by requiring off-street parking and by setting the stage for tax assessments to widen narrow, twisting roads. If passed, it would replace several interim-control ordinances addressing hillside construction, including measures affecting Sherman Oaks and Mulholland Drive.

The five-member commission took no action, but President William G. Luddy said a public workshop would be scheduled in 30 days and another hearing in 90 days. About 250 people attended the two-hour hearing Thursday at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club.

Proponents of the plan--who included representatives of several Valley council members and homeowner associations--said fire and garbage trucks often have trouble passing through substandard streets cluttered with parked cars. They also complained about the aesthetics of large new houses--dubbed by some as “stucco mountains”--being built on tiny but expensive lots.

“It’s overdue,” said Greg Nelson, an architect and board member of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn., who spoke on behalf of his group. Speaking for himself, Nelson said he shared reservations about the plan’s apparent effect on modest house additions.

Under the proposal, for example, all new houses would require automatic fire sprinklers. In existing houses at least a mile and a half from a fire station, the addition of a single room would compel owners to install sprinklers throughout their residences.

Critics said the proposed ordinance unfairly targets small builders and individual property owners. A number of architects also argued that the plan’s size restrictions and street setbacks would encourage more grading rather than less, and that widened roads would destroy the rural character of hillside neighborhoods.

For those reasons and others, both the Los Angeles and Valley chapters of the American Institute of Architects oppose the ordinance as proposed, spokesmen told the Planning Commission.

“What about the large developments along Mulholland . . . that are posing bigger problems than small lots?” asked James Heimler, a Tarzana architect.

Tony Eldridge, a 17-year resident of Laurel Canyon, said the proposal would punish a minority of vacant lot owners in favor of longtime homeowners.

“The real thrust of this ordinance is to stop building by people who have theirs and want no one else” to move into their neighborhood, Eldridge said.