So Near and Yet So Far in Beverly Hills Borderline Case

“Beverly Hills adjacent,” as the real estate ads say, just does not cut it for a group of Los Angeles residents who are trying to move to easy street the hard way.

Rather than buy a Beverly Hills abode and call the movers, residents of Hillgreen Drive, a cul-de-sac next to Century City, are trying to move the city boundary to include their homes.

The benefits go beyond cachet. A switch of cities would give owners of the 12 homes an instant property value increase of at least $150,000 and access to celebrated schools and other services in the wealthy community.

Beverly Hills, meanwhile, is having a hard time finding a good reason to take in the Hillgreen refugees. A recent city report concluded that there is nothing in it for Beverly Hills except aggravation from other wanna-bes seeking a fancier address.

The only apparent benefit of annexation, said Beverly Hills Councilman Robert Tanenbaum, is “to feather the nest of some people who are homeowners in Los Angeles. . . . I see it as a precedential issue that could be devastating.”

Councilman Allan Alexander said: “I’m not interested in generally expanding the boundaries of Beverly Hills.”

But to Joan Marcy, a proponent of annexation who lives on the Beverly Hills portion of Hillgreen Drive, the opposition comes as a surprise. “It never occurred to us that Beverly Hills would say no. . . . This has become a big political brouhaha in the community and I still don’t know why.”

Hillgreen Drive used to connect with Pico Boulevard. But in the 1960s, construction of Century City placed the street within a few feet of the busy intersection of Pico and Century Park East. To keep their street from becoming a heavily traveled shortcut, residents asked that a barrier be installed on the Los Angeles end of Hillgreen Drive, turning it into a cul-de-sac.

However, Hillgreen residents say that they get poor service from the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments because their homes are accessible only via Beverly Hills streets and are hard to find.

Abe Knobel, spokesman for the residents, said money is a secondary motive to them. “It’s basically a fire, life and safety issue.”

Residents cite one instance when children were forced to flag down a lost paramedic unit to help their ailing father.

The Los Angeles Police Department is in favor of the change because “it would offer residents of Hillgreen Drive more efficient police response,” according to a memo from one city official. The Fire Department has remained neutral.

The Beverly Hills City Council will take up the annexation Tuesday.

Fearing defeat of their long-held dream, applicants are offering to buy their way into town with a $500,000 “gift” to the city, money that would not be paid until their homes are sold.

The offer is outlined in a letter to the mayor from an attorney and former city councilman who has been hired by the group to lobby their cause. The applicants have agreed to pick up the estimated $114,000 to $214,000 the annexation would cost Beverly Hills. The biggest expense would be for replacing a water line.

The Hillgreen group has a powerful ally in Los Angeles--Zev Yaroslavsky, their councilman.

Yaroslavsky says the safety issue is compelling enough to let the properties become part of Beverly Hills.

“I wouldn’t want it on my conscience if a paramedic unit didn’t get to Hillgreen in time,” Yaroslavsky has said.

Some seeking the change say Yaroslavsky is taking his stand because of campaign contributions he has received from Knobel. According to records, Knobel, an accountant and financial adviser, has given Yaroslavsky $2,100 since 1985.

Yaroslavsky has said charges of favoritism are not true because he agreed to back the boundary change two years before he met Knobel.

It is rare, but not unheard of, for Los Angeles to give up property to another jurisdiction, officials said. Typically, Los Angeles zealously guards its borders and its tax base. Yaroslavsky has never before agreed to let homes in his district, which encircles Beverly Hills, become parts of other cities. In the mid-1970s, he refused to support a secession effort by owners of the same Hillgreen Drive homes.

This time, Yaroslavsky has guided the group through the process of detaching from Los Angeles, holding off on only the final step--a vote by the Los Angeles City Council.

Los Angeles stands to lose a little more than $5,000 a year in its share of property tax revenue if the annexation goes through.

Marcy described the reluctance of Beverly Hills to accept the homes as “a slap in the face” to Yaroslavsky. “You can imagine how politically embarrassing this is to him,” she said.

But Yaroslavsky deputy Ginny Kruger described the councilman as fatalistic about the annexation.

“It takes two entities to tango here,” Kruger said. “We acted based on what we thought was best for our residents. If (Beverly Hills) doesn’t want them, fine.”

Marcy hopes to persuade the Beverly Hills City Council that there is enough benefit to residents along the Beverly Hills portion of Hillgreen Drive to warrant the annexation. She said her property values will also increase because, with Beverly Hills in control of the entire street, that city would never agree to open the cul-de-sac.

Marcy also reports problems because an alley behind the homes, including several in Beverly Hills, is controlled by Los Angeles. That means, she said, those residents must obtain permits from Los Angeles to park behind their homes and from Beverly Hills to park in front.

But some Beverly Hills residents are unsympathetic.

Janet Kaye, a member of the citywide residents group, the Municipal League of Beverly Hills, said her board voted to oppose the annexation.

“We have a number of areas with these strange boundaries,” Kaye said.

According to a city report, there have been 14 annexations, six detachments and two boundary realignments since Beverly Hills was incorporated in 1914.

The most recent was in 1977-78, when portions of 13 properties on the city’s southern border were annexed to obtain a boundary line that did not cut through individual lots. Two of the Hillgreen properties now seeking annexation also straddle the boundary line.

Other “Beverly Hills adjacent” neighborhoods are watching the Hillgreen annexation effort with interest, and there have been inquiries on how to start the process.

Homeowner activist Harald Hahn has appeared at hearings asking that his Burton Way neighborhood, just east of Beverly Hills, be annexed. Beverly Hills City Manager Mark Scott reminded the council recently that residents of the Franklin Canyon area have long sought to be annexed to Beverly Hills and have safety issues similar to those on Hillgreen.

At the Local Agency Formation Commission, which brokers the exchange of land between jurisdictions, Michi Takahashi said she has been fielding calls from people on the periphery clamoring for a Beverly Hills address.

“I tell people it’s easier to move,” she said.

Annexation Effort

Residents of 12 homes on Hillgreen Drive, a Los Angeles cul-de-sac next to Century City, are attempting to persuade Beverly Hills to annex their street.