Project Goes to Group With Council Ties : Studio City: At the urging of Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, L.A. city officials bypass bidding procedures and award building rights to a group represented by the husband of Yaroslavsky’s top aide.

At the urging of Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday authorized a nonprofit group represented by the husband of Yaroslavsky’s longtime top aide to build housing over a city-owned parking lot in Sherman Oaks, sidestepping competitive bidding procedures.

To comply with legal requirements, the council officially declared that awarding construction rights directly to the Jewish Federation Council was “in the public interest and necessity.”

The Jewish federation still must obtain a $6.25-million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund its 83-unit senior citizen housing project next to a bustling Ventura Boulevard retail strip that has recently become a favorite haunt of stylish youth. The area has been dubbed “the Melrose of the Valley.”

Representing the Jewish federation in its negotiations with the city has been Westside attorney Howard Katz, husband of Alisa Katz, Yaroslavsky’s chief deputy. Howard Katz said his maximum fee for the project--as set by HUD--would be $40,000.

“I get a fraction of what I get paid by my other clients,” Howard Katz said. “This is not a windfall.”

Yaroslavsky could not be reached Tuesday to comment on Howard Katz’s involvement in the project.

But Howard Katz--a former Yaroslavsky aide himself--said it was immaterial that he had once worked for Yaroslavsky and that his wife now works for the lawmaker.

“This thing has not been ramrodded” by Yaroslavsky, Howard Katz said. “I had to yell and scream to get it. . . . I didn’t have the cooperation of the city, including Zev Yaroslavsky.”

The motion to grant the Jewish federation the construction rights was introduced by Yaroslavsky on May 25. Yaroslavsky subsequently introduced another motion to amend the Sherman Oaks community plan for the project, change the site’s zoning from parking to residential and provide a 50% unit density bonus.

Katz argued that if he had the full cooperation of city officials, he would not have been rushing to get the critical city approvals just before the deadline today for filing for the HUD loan. Official city support of the project gives it a better chance of securing HUD funding, Katz said.

Katz said competitive bidding for the right to build housing over city parking lots takes too long and “it becomes political.”

The Jewish federation’s 83 units would be the third senior citizen housing project to be built over a Los Angeles city-owned parking facility. Two previous projects--both in Yaroslavsky’s district--were hailed by Mayor Tom Bradley earlier this year as prototypes for a pilot program of his own to build low-income housing over 10 other city-owned parking lots.

City documents indicate that the Jewish federation would pay the city $1.66 million for the right to build the apartments on stilts above the parking lot.

But what the city actually may get is not cash but 72 additional parking spaces at the parking lot at 14559 Dickens St., said Margaret Sullivan, a city Department of Transportation analyst. The Dickens lot, located just south of congested Ventura Boulevard, now has 137 spaces. If the Jewish federation housing project is built, a total of 209 spaces will be available to the public, some of them in the lower floors of the apartment building.

Howard Katz also represented the Jewish federation in 1986 when it obtained the right to build 51 units in the Pico-Robertson area over a city-owned parking lot. That project, also built with HUD funds, also was in Yaroslavsky’s district.

The Dickens Avenue project must be built by April 1, 1992, or the city’s agreement to deal exclusively with the Jewish federation expires.

In a related action, the City Council’s planning committee Tuesday recommended that the Dickens Avenue parking lot be rezoned for the housing project.

During the brief council discussion of the project Tuesday, Yaroslavsky said the proposed units would serve an area very heavily populated with older people. Yaroslavsky also said the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. favors the project because it would increase available parking spaces.