Bradley Acts to Exempt 7 Developers From New Hillside Construction Limits

Mayor Tom Bradley has acted to exempt seven developers from a new land-use plan that sharply limits construction in the rustic hillside areas of the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Bradley took the action, which can be overturned by the Los Angeles City Council, as a matter of “fairness and good public policy” because the developers filed to subdivide their properties before the land-use plan was approved, said Jane Blumenfeld, the mayor’s top land-use adviser.

“It’s not fair to go back and apply a whole new set of rules” to projects already being reviewed by the city, Blumenfeld said. In fact, the Planning Commission had recommended exemptions for the seven projects, but the City Council voted against them.

The council approved the land-use revisions July 10. They call for reducing development that may occur on 3,000 acres of steeply sloping land in Sunland, Tujunga, Lake View Terrace and Shadow Hills.

In recent weeks, the mayor has criticized supporters of slow growth and proposed new ways to encourage residential construction. But the mayor’s decision in this instance was not prompted by “questions about whether there ought to be more or less density or whether this project is a good one or bad one,” Blumenfeld said.

Sylvia Gross, chairwoman of the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents, said Bradley’s decision was disappointing. “I don’t think he knows a helluva lot about planning,” she said.

City Councilman Joel Wachs, prime sponsor of the hillside growth-control plan, must obtain the votes of 12 of 15 council members to override Bradley’s action.

Instead of exempting the seven properties outright, Wachs had proposed that the question of whether to reduce the densities of the projects be decided when the council reviews each project’s subdivision maps.

A big question, said Arline DeSanctis, Wachs’ planning deputy, is whether Bradley will try to persuade City Council members to side with him. “I would hope the mayor won’t lobby the council” to uphold his action, DeSanctis said. Wachs was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

The seven single-family home projects would be built on only 250 acres of the 3,000 acres covered by the plan.

Among those affected would be Dale Poe Development Corp., which wants to build 119 homes on 41 acres in Tujunga. Without an exemption, the number of homes would be cut in half.

Also affected are plans by Nansay Corp.--a huge Japanese concern that has also a controversial project pending in Westwood Village--to build a 63-unit horse-keeping subdivision on 65 acres in Shadow Hills.

The effect that the new growth controls would have on those plans was not known Monday.

Dale Poe representative Jeff Stevenson refused to comment on the mayor’s action. A Nansay spokesman could not be reached for comment.