Builder Agrees to Alter Wall That Blocks View : Development: The North Beverly Park development enclosure had city approval. But protests greeted its construction.

A Mulholland Drive developer whose white stucco wall blocks motorists’ panoramic vistas has agreed to enlarge a viewer-friendly window of wrought-iron bars on the structure.

The six-foot wall, which borders 600 feet of the scenic hilltop corridor, sparked protests from drivers, homeowners and environmentalists when it was erected this summer by developer Brian Adler as security for estates in exclusive North Beverly Park, above Beverly Hills.

Adler obtained city permits to build the wall, dubbed by some the “Great Wall of China” and “the great white monster.”

In an effort to appease the locals, Adler has now agreed to enlarge bar windows that run along 130 feet of the wall from three to four feet in height so that passersby can catch glimpses of hillside chaparral.

“We have said we are willing to do whatever we can to make sure there isn’t unhappiness,” Adler said. He is also considering whether to extend the length of grillwork on sections of the wall that sit on the public right-of-way, as Los Angeles Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has requested.

Yaroslavsky wants the bar windows to restore views of Century City, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the ocean. When he visited the wall, he said he was forced to climb on top of a two-foot high guard rail in order to see beyond the structure.

Adler has agreed to pay for the work, the cost of which has not been determined. Yaroslavsky, however, said he would look into the possibility of using city funds to help defray the cost because Adler is not at fault for building the wall.

The Department of Public Works granted a permit for the wall with the approval of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Citizens Advisory Committee, a group that assists the City Council with issues regarding the area. But the committee gave the go-ahead with the mistaken belief that the barred windows would be four feet high instead of three feet, officials said.

Richard Reiss, president of the advisory committee, said he was pleased with the new agreement.

“We’re tickled pink with it,” he said.

But others--who say that the wall blocks a popular crossing point used by bobcats, mountain lions and other wildlife--said they want further concessions.

“That’s not good enough for us,” said Judy Marx, of the Los Angeles Urban Wilderness Coalition. “We want that wall down. . . . The wall has become a symbol to all us poor folk who don’t count if we don’t have money at City Hall.”

Alan Kishbaugh, vice president of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., said he did not know enough about the negotiations to comment on the deal, but he said he would prefer that the wall be moved back from the road and down an incline so that it is no longer visible.

“The wall certainly suddenly made our lives horrible,” Kishbaugh said. “I don’t think it belongs there.”