Council Approves Building Limits for Valley Village : Growth: Homeowners seek even tighter restrictions and right of review. Councilman Wachs says he will ask developers to consult residents.

Seven years after Tom Paterson woke up to find what he calls “stucco mountains” in the exclusive North Hollywood neighborhood now known as Valley Village, the city of Los Angeles has finally approved development restrictions for the area.

But Paterson and the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. say that’s not enough.

They want even tighter restrictions on height than the three stories the city is allowing for commercial buildings.

And they are asking the city to require every developer or homeowner who wants to build in the neighborhood--which is bounded by the Hollywood and Ventura freeways, the Tujunga Wash and Burbank Boulevard--to get the approval of the homeowner association first.

“We’re going to start fighting for that right away,” said Lori Dinkin, a longtime community activist who is president of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn.

Without community review, she said, it will be difficult for the neighborhood to monitor new projects and make sure they conform to the restrictions.

Under the new rules--which were passed by the City Council on Tuesday as part of a document known as a Specific Plan--no new commercial buildings in Valley Village may be higher than 36 feet, and no homes higher than 30.

The plan forbids a number of commercial enterprises in the neighborhood, including automobile dealerships, bathhouses, burglar-alarm businesses, massage parlors and fast-food restaurants.

It regulates the placement of balconies and rooftop gardens on apartment buildings and requires landscaping around them.

But homeowners, Dinkin said, fear that without the right to review proposed new projects, major developments related to the subway or elevated rail line slated to run through the neighborhood might be approved without community input.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents a major portion of Valley Village and shepherded the plan through the city’s bureaucracy, said he will push for a citizens review board in the neighborhood.

In fact, Wachs said, he plans to institute a de facto board, beginning immediately, by requiring developers to speak to the homeowners group before lending his support to a project when it comes before the City Council.

“If someone comes to me with a project, I’m going to direct them to the community, to make sure the community has input,” Wachs said in a telephone interview.

Wachs said it was “unconscionable” that it took so long for the plan to be approved.

“I am terribly disappointed that the city didn’t get it done quicker,” the councilman said, blaming the delay on the Planning Department and city attorney’s office. “The system ought to work quicker than that.”

But Dinkin and Paterson say they figure the system just works incredibly slowly.

That’s why instead of taking a break after seven years of lobbying, they’re starting next week to push for citizen review and lower height limits.

“When we first met with Joel, we thought we could get it done in six months,” Paterson said. “We were naive.”