Council Approves New Height Limits on Sunset Boulevard

Responding to complaints that one of the city’s most scenic residential streets has been overrun with development, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday imposed new height limits on apartments and condominiums built near single-family homes along Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades.

The council’s 12-0 decision follows more than a year of lobbying by homeowner groups for height restrictions on multifamily units built on Sunset between Pacific Coast Highway and Chautauqua Avenue. Homeowners requested the limits because proposed citywide height restrictions on apartments and condominiums have been languishing at City Hall for five years.

The new height restrictions for Sunset, pending final approval by Mayor Tom Bradley, would take effect in mid-October and would limit new construction depending on its proximity to homes. Buildings next to homes would be restricted to 30 feet while those more than 50 feet away could be 35 feet in height.

The current 45-foot limit would apply to new units built more than 100 feet from homes.

The height restrictions were pushed by Councilman Marvin Braude, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, as an interim measure until new citywide height limits are adopted. To date, the city’s Planning Commission has been reluctant to impose such limits for fear that they will slow the construction of affordable housing.

Similarly, the commission has opposed the Planning Department on enacting new height restrictions along Sunset, arguing that planners and residents have not demonstrated the need for imposing local restrictions before a citywide law is decided.

But Braude, joined Wednesday by about 30 Pacific Palisades residents, told the council that interim restrictions are needed along Sunset to prevent a proliferation of apartment and condominium construction that is out of scale to existing homes. The height limit would apply to an estimated 50 to 60 parcels along Sunset.

“This is a very important issue to us in the Palisades,” resident Lloyd Ahern told the council during a brief public hearing. “We always wait until it’s too late and then say, ‘How did this happen?’ Well, this time, we can save the flavor of our town and still be fair to progress.”

Joan Graves, past president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, added that the height restrictions in that community represent the sort of land-use guidelines needed throughout Los Angeles.

“Overbuilt, oversized, traffic-laden communities have mushroomed (citywide) with little eye to planning. Urban blight is the result,” Graves said. “What the developer needs is guidance. What we don’t need is another Wilshire Corridor stretching relentlessly to the sea.”

But opponents of the height restrictions argued that they are an overreaction to new apartment and condominium construction along Sunset. And, opponents argued, they would impose an unfair burden on multifamily developments that could affect the construction of more affordable housing by reducing the number of units that can be built.

“We don’t feel another restrictive ordinance is necessary in the city of Los Angeles, not in today’s business climate,” said Dean Strong, a former president of the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce.

Despite the objections, the council’s unanimous vote sent the matter directly to Bradley for signing. The new height limits would be in effect for at least one year with the council empowered to extend the restrictions for up to one more year.