Builder Proposes New Sleepy Hollow Plan to Cut Down Grading

Developer Ken Doty, whose proposal to build 25 hillside houses was rejected by the Planning Commission and criticized by neighbors, has unveiled an alternative plan that he says will require less grading on sensitive ridgelines.

The Glendale City Council will review the alternative plan and Doty’s original proposal for the 30-acre tract off Sleepy Hollow Place during a special meeting that begins at 7 p.m. today in council chambers at City Hall, 613 E. Broadway.

“We’ve tried to address as much as possible the major concerns,” Doty said last Friday, when he announced the alternative plan.

Doty said he prepared the second plan to give council members another option, but added that he has not withdrawn his original building proposal. He said his new plan eliminates a main cut in the hillside facing Glenoaks Canyon.

The new plan also eliminates one view lot that was criticized by city planners because it required excessive grading. But by reconfiguring the tract, Doty said he has retained room for 25 lots.

The developer said the only way to avoid hillside grading in Sleepy Hollow is to haul a large quantity of dirt into the canyon by truck--an option that is opposed by homeowners.

Planning commissioners cited the ridgeline grading and the loss of oak trees in urging the council to deny Doty’s original plan. Glenoaks Canyon residents have also charged that the tract would destroy scenic terrain, create traffic hazards and add to crowding at local schools.

“It’s impossible to completely meet all the demands,” Doty said.

Wolfgang Krause, a Glendale city planner, said Doty’s alternative plan is “not radically different” from the original proposal.

Leaders of the Glenoaks Canyon Homeowners Assn., which opposes the Sleepy Hollow project, have refused Doty’s invitation to discuss the alternative plan.

“It would be inappropriate at this time for a few people to sit down behind closed doors and agree to anything without the entire association knowing it,” said Dave Weaver, association president.

He said the new proposal should undergo the same rigorous environmental review that the city ordered for Doty’s original plan.

Weaver said his association has been distributing flyers, hoping to produce a large turnout of hillside development foes at today’s meeting.