Planners to Ease Limits on Hill Homes

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission, after 18 months of discussion about imposing new limits on hillside construction, probably will approve at its next meeting restrictions less severe than those originally proposed, commissioners said Thursday.

The proposed ordinance, which would affect the San Fernando Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains as well as other hillside areas of the city, would limit the size of new houses and would require they have additional off-street parking spaces. In addition, it would require fire sprinkler systems and sewer connections for some new houses, depending on their location.

But the proposed ordinance, which would replace existing interim-control ordinances governing several hillside communities, is less restrictive than an initial version presented by the commission May 24. Commissioners said the original was changed in response to complaints raised at two public meetings this summer.

Among the changes made to the ordinance and presented at a public meeting Thursday, are:

* A narrowing of the cases in which a fire sprinkler system must be added to a house that is being enlarged, to apply only to additions that expand a house by at least 50% when the house is more than 1.5 miles from a fire station;

* A reduction in the width of required hillside streets from 36 feet to 30;

* An increase in the percentage of a lot that a structure may cover to 40%;

* An exemption from the new ordinance for any building plan approved under an existing--and less restrictive--interim control ordinance.

Commission President William G. Luddy predicted that the commission would pass the proposed ordinance at its next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 6. He said the revised version balances the concerns of advocates and opponents of hillside residential growth.

“When we first started, it was at either end of the spectrum,” he said of reaction to the proposed ordinance, first discussed in February, 1989. Now, he said, “I think we’ve gotten far more agreement from people.”

Yet, after listening to more than two hours of public testimony Thursday in a meeting attended by about 110 people at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, commissioners acknowledged that significant disagreement over the proposed hillside ordinance remains.

“The real estate market in Los Angeles is already in a recession,” said Tony Eldridge, a member of the Hillside Homeowners’ Assn., who argued that even the amended version would limit development too severely. He called the ordinance “a dangerous and irresponsible act,” and said that “what is going on here is the worst kind of political situation.”

Rod Browning, a member of the Studio City Homeowners’ Assn., said he disagreed with the revised ordinance, calling it too lenient. “I think this revision is a complete roll-over by staff,” he said.

Commissioner Fernando Torres said he recognized the continuing debate over the proposed ordinance but believed the commission should and would approve it. If the commission fails to approve the amended measure, “we’ll have more problems than the inconveniences caused by having the hillside ordinance,” he said.

“Clearly, it could be more restrictive. What this version does is seek a middle of the road. It’s not diluted.”