Panel OKs Plan to Curb Building in Mountains

A Los Angeles City Council committee on Tuesday approved a plan that would stem the tide of mansion-building in the Santa Monica Mountains and improve the ability of emergency vehicles--especially fire trucks--to serve secluded mountain communities.

Without the proposed changes, the Los Angeles Fire Department might face the nightmarish problems that bedeviled Oakland firefighters as they battled the hillside conflagration that claimed 24 lives and did more than $1.5 billion in property damage last month, warned council members Ruth Galanter and Hal Bernson.

The plan would limit the height of houses and the percentage of a lot that could be built on in a neighborhood with narrow streets. It would also require property owners to widen streets when doing extensive remodeling. The complex plan, parts of which must be reconsidered by the city’s Planning Commission, is several months from final approval by the full council.