Hearings Tell Stories of a City in Transition : Land use: Residents and homeowner groups increasingly use zoning meetings as a forum to confront and combat neighborhood problems.

On a warm day in mid-July, nearly 100 people packed the un-air-conditioned auditorium of the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, intent on preventing a sadomasochist bondage parlor from operating in their North Hollywood neighborhood.

Days later, the rows of folding chairs in the auditorium were filled again, this time with senior citizens arguing against a permit for a juice bar that would feature nude dancers, and in favor of a rival application for a country-Western club.

And the auditorium may soon be packed with angry Sun Valley residents who say their new neighbor’s mulching operation is a noisy and smelly intrusion into their otherwise peaceful existence.

If the walls of the Van Nuys Woman’s Club could talk, they would tell complex tales of a community and a city in transition.

Here, where the Los Angeles city zoning administrator regularly holds hearings on land-use issues, residents, homeowners, business people and city officials meet to determine the character and texture of San Fernando Valley neighborhoods.

Issues of noise, congestion, crowding, traffic, parking and dwindling property values find a forum for discussion at the hearings. And it is here that the fears and frustrations of the city’s residents unfold.

But in this, the Office of Zoning Administration’s 50th year, officials find themselves faced with more complex and varied cases than ever before, symptomatic of the changes that the city has endured within the last several years. Recently, the office was given additional power to revoke permits, making the zoning administrator’s role as an arbiter in neighborhood disputes that much more important.

Increasingly, homeowner groups are recognizing the office as a potential tool in helping to combat problems in their neighborhoods, while developers and business people are realizing that it is a force to be reckoned with.

In this rapidly evolving landscape, the Valley holds a dubious honor.

“The majority of our cases now are in the Valley,” said Robert Janovici, chief zoning administrator. “In the Valley, you have a unique set of circumstances. It’s the last area to be developed . . . and with the development go the zoning problems.”

At the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, Associate Zoning Administrator Andrew B. Sincosky sits in front of a folding table listening as applicants state their cases in the quasi-judicial hearings. Some have come for a conditional use permit--a permit that allows establishments such as churches and liquor stores to operate in a particular neighborhood. Others are here for a variance--a legal authorization allowing an applicant to deviate from specific zoning regulations.

The meetings are a cross between an old-fashioned town hall meeting where feuding neighbors hash out their differences, and a modern-day courtroom where polished professionals skilled in debate represent developers and business people.

Sincosky, who handles all Valley cases, has seen it all: the mundane and routine, the groundbreaking and historic.

His job is not easy.

“Many of these hearings are emotionally charged,” Sincosky said. “It’s oftentimes difficult. I try to look at it as though I lived in the community and I think, ‘How would I feel if this happened or didn’t happen in my neighborhood?’

“Most of us think that way,” he said, referring to the other eight associate administrators. “We’re kind of the guardians of the public trust.”

Pauline Amond has been a zoning consultant for more than 25 years, arguing the cases of numerous Valley clients. The level of intensity and involvement in the hearings has increased as Valley residents deal with complex issues that accompany urbanization, she said.

In 1965, when she started representing clients in zoning matters, Amond said zoning administrators “didn’t have as difficult a time as they do now.”

“They walk a very tight rope,” she said. “They have to adjudicate what is good for the neighborhood and what is good for the society as a whole.”

Ethnic diversity, increased population and density, crime and a growing “NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) syndrome” in the Valley make that a more daunting task, Amond said.

In this climate, nothing escapes scrutiny: an auto body repair shop making too much noise, a home day-care center causing parking problems, plans for apartments in a single-family neighborhood.

Even religious institutions can be the source of controversy.

Take the case of the St. Athanasius Coptic Church, which recently applied for a conditional use permit to open a church in Northridge.

Neighbors complained that the area, dubbed “Holy Hill” because of the four churches and schools already there, would experience an increase in traffic and crime and a decrease in property values because of the church.

“The associate zoning administrator by this grant, and the applicants by their current appeal, would have the area converted into a holy hell,” wrote Emilio Nicolas, a nearby resident.

“It is understood that a given field can support only a limited number of cattle in good health. Just one more cow and the entire field along with the cattle dies.”

In another letter, resident Cheryl A. Fox wrote that she was concerned that, “because the members of this church are not residents of our community, we will experience increased crime, causing a negative impact on the character of our neighborhood.”

The zoning administrator granted the permit but imposed a series of conditions. The church appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which denied the permit on the grounds that the Gothic architecture of the church would not be appropriate for the neighborhood.

“That was the reason given,” Amond said. “The main reason was the number of people that came down against it. There were just so many people.”

Members of the Egyptian congregation felt that they are unwanted in the neighborhood and will not appeal the decision, Amond said.

“It’s sad commentary,” she said. “I don’t feel the church is going to impact the neighborhood. I can’t think of anything better than having a church for a neighbor.

“One of the reasons they left Egypt is because they were under persecution as Christians in a Muslim state. Here, they feel like they’re in the same situation.”

The testimony and correspondence of all parties involved play an important role in helping the zoning administrator make decisions--a role that homeowners and community groups seem to be taking more seriously than ever before.

“We seem to be getting involved with more and more zoning cases,” said Don Schultz of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn.

Hearings for people applying for permits to sell alcohol at a store or gas station have been a frequent target of the Van Nuys group.

“Van Nuys is already inundated with liquor licenses,” said Schultz, who prepares for such hearings by contacting the Police Department and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for statistics on crime and existing licenses.

More permits will only exacerbate already burgeoning crime and enforcement problems in Van Nuys, Schultz said.

He estimated that in the last few years, he has participated in about 20 alcohol-related hearings. He said most have gone in his favor.

In such cases, information obtained from the police and state ABC inspectors is of extreme importance, Sincosky said. Often, police officers and representatives from the affected City Council office will show up and testify at the hearings.

“The Police Department is recognizing that you can fight crime in a police car and you can also fight it on paper by coming to these hearings,” Sincosky said.

Sincosky and other zoning officials say that they view the community groups as their “eyes and ears” and that they welcome the increased input.

“I think it’s for the better,” Janovici said. “The people are going to know a specific area far better than we would.”

When an applicant applies for a permit, the office notifies neighbors by mail. Recently, the office expanded its area of notification, from within 300 feet of the land in question to within 500 feet, which further increased participation at hearings, officials said. The hearings can sometimes give homeowner groups an edge, a bargaining chip in negotiations with the potential developers.

For example, Lori Dinkins, co-president of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn., said she has worked out arrangements with developers in advance of hearings.

One developer who applied for an exemption from a height regulation for his new building consulted Dinkins’ group before the hearing. The two worked out an agreement: Dinkins agreed not to oppose the permit if the developer included more landscaping to help beautify the neighborhood.

“I feel the best way of dealing with new projects is through dialogue, not confrontation,” she said.

After a hearing, zoning administrators can issue a ruling immediately or take the case under advisement and issue a ruling in 75 days. Zoning administrators’ decisions are final unless appealed. Appeals are heard by the Board of Zoning Appeals, a five-member panel appointed by the mayor. In some cases, the appeals reach the City Council, Sincosky said.

Sincosky said that to his surprise, his approval of a conditional use permit for the Club Chateau, a sadomasochistic bondage parlor in North Hollywood, was not appealed. It was the first time such a permit was issued and the case drew nationwide attention.

At the hearing in July, members of a church, residents of a nearby mobile-home park, the police and a representative of Councilman Joel Wachs’ office complained that the club, which has existed in various locations in the city for 15 years, would be a detriment to the community.

In the past, neighbors complained of hearing anguished moans coming from the club and of seedy characters drifting in and out of their neighborhood.

By law, Sincosky “had no choice but to grant the permit,” he said. But to ensure that the fears of nearby residents would not be realized, he imposed 19 strict rules to determine the way in which the business will operate, including one that stated: “No noise from the operation of the premises shall be audible outside the main building.”

Conditions such as these are key elements of zoning administrators’ rulings on conditional use permits.

“The conditions that the zoning administrator imposes are a result of testimony, correspondence,” Sincosky said. “We try to tailor the conditions to the problems and to the particular use.”

Until 1989, the office had no effective mechanism to enforce the conditions attached to permits. The officers “would trust on blind faith” that the conditions of a grant would be adhered to by the owner of a business or establishment, said Jon Perica, associate zoning administrator who handles revocations.

In addition, there were many “grandfather cases,” primarily bars and liquor stores that were operating before the city started requiring conditional use permits for such establishments.

But in 1989, a city ordinance went into effect giving the zoning administrator’s office the authority to revoke permits if conditions are not abided by or if the use is a nuisance.

Now, zoning administrators find themselves in the position of playing revocation cops, Perica said.

“It’s a different role for us to play,” Perica said. “Now, for the 2% of the cases that come back to haunt us, we have an effective way to deal with those. I think it gives the conditions more credibility and increases the likelihood that people will follow them.”

Liquor stores and bars form the bulk of the revocation cases, but hearings have also been held on interests as varied as the Sylmar Little League and Temple Beth Israel for parking-related offenses.

The cases of three liquor stores in Pacoima show the power and limitations of zoning administrators. In 1989, residents and a councilman complained that the stores sold alcohol to minors and were the sites of other offenses such as drug sales.

Perica held a joint hearing on the three cases and imposed a series of conditions.

After six months, two of the stores received a “clean bill of health” from police and residents, he said.

But at the third site, Pacoima Food Mart, the owner continued to sell to minors and still sells narcotics paraphernalia, Perica said.

“That struck us as so totally outrageous that we held a second hearing and revoked the conditional use permit,” Perica said.

The owner exhausted his options in the appeal process and lost at each turn, but his store is still open.

“He’s just daring the city to enforce the action,” Perica said.

Even with the city’s increased enforcement power, the offending establishment can remain open until the city’s attorneys prosecute the case in court, which can be a lengthy process. Failure to comply with a zoning administrator’s decision is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

If the zoning office is forced to reduce its budget by 10% to deal with a projected deficit, the position of a revocations officer might be terminated, Perica said.

Despite the increase in the office’s power, those involved in zoning issues at all levels say the city’s ordinances have not been able to keep up with rapid changes in lifestyles and technology that affect neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.

Community care issues--group homes for recovering alcoholics or foster children, hospices for senior citizens, home-based child-care centers--are growing concerns that legislators need to review and create new ordinances for, Amond said.

Zoning laws make it more difficult to obtain permits for such establishments, Amond said.

“We need these things,” she said. “Society needs them.”

But issues dealing with social ills very often are most controversial.

One case Amond remembers well involved an application for a hospice for people with AIDS in Hollywood. Hundreds of people turned out for the emotionally charged hearing.

“People said that they would not like to see funeral cars and hearses coming into their neighborhoods, that it would give them a bad feeling to know that people are dying regularly,” Amond said.

Ultimately, the application was denied.

Those in the zoning office agree that they are often dealing with a code that reflects the Los Angeles of 1941 and not the one of today.

But until the city’s legislators amend certain sections of the code, officials said they make decisions that may not please both sides but are legal and good for the city.

“It’s a weighty responsibility,” Sincosky said. “You wrestle with the decisions and you try to do what’s right.”