View From Below : Residents Are Upset by Go-Ahead for Hillside Mansion

Bharati Damudar calls it her dream house. Neighbors say it’s a nightmare.

But they agree on one thing: Strong emotions have greeted Damudar’s plan to build an 8,475-square-foot mansion and a 1,404-square-foot guest house on a Studio City hillside.

“Forget about a view from now on,” said Ruth Lenorovitz, whose house is on the street below the Damudar lot. “You won’t look at a hillside. You’ll only look at this monstrosity.”

Residents of the canyon neighborhood are bothered by more than the aesthetics of the house on Sunswept Drive, which they site as another example of the trend toward mansion building that has encroached city hillsides. They say they are angry that the city granted building permits before they could discuss their concerns with Damudar, who now lives in Burbank.

The controversy has residents contemplating legal action while Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo looks for ways to trigger an environmental review. His office is scheduled to meet today with Damudar.

But Damudar said she does not see anything extraordinary about the Grecian house that she and her husband plan to build on a 1.68-acre lot overlooking Goodland Avenue.

The residence for the Damudars and their two children meets all building and zoning codes, Department of Building and Safety officials said. And the lot size entitles the Damudars to build a bigger structure, said Bob Harder, chief of the department’s plan check division.

Houses on the same street range in size from 1,500 to 5,000 square feet, according to a Studio City real estate agent. Houses on the street below range from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet.

An even bigger house--about 10,000 square feet--has almost been completed on Sunswept Drive for actress Goldie Hawn, said Julie Jaskol, spokeswoman for Woo. Although some neighbors have expressed concern over the size of that house, Jaskol said that to her knowledge no one has contacted Woo’s office about it.

Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said that neighbors would have fought that house had they been more aware of it. Some neighbors said they are not as concerned about it because it is on the opposite side of the street from the Damudar house and does not overlook Goodland Avenue.

Damudar said she was surprised by the “hostile” response she received at an area meeting she attended last week out of courtesy to her future neighbors. She said she believes some people are more upset over her Indian heritage than her house. She referred other questions to her landscaper, who did not return calls.

Residents of the canyon neighborhood are eager to discuss the future Damudar homestead.

Among other things, the house has been compared to “an alien spaceship,” a “pseudo Greek temple” and “a mix between ‘Gone With the Wind’ and the Acropolis.”

Neighbors said they are also worried that the structure will cut off a wildlife corridor, that construction could lead to mudslides and that they will be subjected to noise, dust and parking problems during construction.

“This incredible structure is going to affect a lot of people,” said Catherine Schick, who lives directly below where the house is to be built.

The neighbors are also angered by the way the city has handled the matter. Residents said they contacted Woo after they learned in November of the plan. r Later, residents arranged a Jan. 22 meeting with Damudar, hoping to persuade her to reduce the house’s size, said neighbor Nicolas Noxon.

But the next day, residents found out that the building permit had been granted--on Jan. 16.

Woo’s office was not notified before permits were issued because of an “internal breakdown in Building and Safety,” said Richard Holguin, assistant chief of the department’s building bureau.

The councilman has enlisted the support of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to research whether the house would intrude upon wildlife. Paul Edelman, staff ecologist for the conservancy, said construction could result in the loss of native California black walnut trees and grassland where birds of prey forage.