Developer Sets Sights on Hillside : Housing: The same builders criticized for one large subdivision have proposed another one next to it. The city is weighing new proposals to restrict such projects.
Fifteen years after winning city approval for what some call one of the ugliest hillside subdivisions in Glendale, Gregg Development Inc. is seeking to construct another development next to it.
The new subdivision would contain as many as 623 housing units on 238 acres west of Gregg’s Oakmont View Drive subdivision. Now, however, the city is considering stringent new rules to preserve views of the hillsides.
Decades of debate, including much criticism of the 197-home Oakmont View development, resulted in a two-year building moratorium, which was lifted last year. Critics of the older development found fault with its large two- and three-story houses on relatively small lots, and the large retaining walls used to make as much land as possible usable.
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In two proposals submitted to the city Planning Department last month, Glendale developers John L. Gregg and Salvatore F. Gangi seek to build either 572 single-family houses or a mixture of 529 attached townhouses and 94 single-family houses. The developers paid $61,825 in filing fees to retain a double option.
The subdivision would cross over a ridge separating the Oakmont View, Oakmont Woods and Whiting Woods neighborhoods. Protection of the ridge became the topic of heated controversy in 1988 when Gregg and Gangi proposed slicing as much as 70 feet off the ridge to fill in a six-acre depression in the Oakmont View subdivision. Developers blamed the hole on an engineering error.
After two years of debate, the City Council in 1990 finally approved the grading project by a 3-2 vote after members said they could find no other way the Oakmont subdivision could be completed. Meantime, a moratorium on hillside development was imposed to prevent a similar occurrence.
Since then, various committees representing businesses, developers and homeowners have been studying proposed new rules to govern hillside development. Recommendations from the studies are expected to be released this month for hearings before the city Planning Commission and City Council.
The proposed new subdivision calls for narrower and steeper streets than is currently allowed and for eliminating curbs and sidewalks. The developer also is seeking to cut slopes far steeper than the grade permitted now.
In their application for a subdivision permit, the developers said the project “would be much more environmentally sensitive; grading and scarring would be reduced, and visual impacts would be softened to be more compatible with the hillside” if those changes were allowed.
Some critics have accused the builders of attempting to win approval before the adoption of new rules that could significantly reduce the number of units permitted in hillside developments. However, city officials said, a new ordinance is expected to be adopted long before environmental studies on the proposed subdivision are completed. The city contends that developers would be required to comply with the new rules.
The city Planning Department notified the developer Dec. 31 that the applications are incomplete and requested more information and exhibits. Among the requests is that a three-dimensional scale model be built showing where slopes would be cut and areas filled.
City officials said either of the proposed projects would require removal of some protected trees and involve some cutting, filling and grading on property owned by the city and on a Southern California Edison Co. right of way.
Clif Cartland, a spokesman for the developers, said an attempt will be made to answer all the city’s questions “very quickly.” He said the proposal for a single-family subdivision complies with all current rules but that the alternate plan, for a clustered development, “would be more sensitive, require less grading and leave more open space.”
In a prepared joint statement released by Gregg and Gangi, the developers said they anticipate heavy opposition from homeowners “who are fortunate enough to already have their own homes in Glendale.” They also said the new city rules on the size and design of homes would prevent construction of “large, visually obtrusive houses”--answering one of the objections voiced about the Oakmont View subdivision.
Joe Bridges, a spokesman for the umbrella group Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council, said its members first learned about the proposed new subdivision at a board meeting Monday night. He described reaction to the news as “one of horror.”
