PACOIMA : Zoning Panel Places Conditions on Motel

A city zoning panel voted Tuesday to impose conditions on the operation of a San Fernando Road motel despite the good faith efforts of the owner to discourage prostitution and other illegal activities in the past six months.

Members of the Board of Zoning Appeals, who joined a Foothill Division police sergeant in commending owner Paul C. Wei during a hearing, stopped short of dismissing a finding that the motel has been a public nuisance. The panel voted 3 to 1 to deny Wei’s appeal of recommended conditions, including a requirement that guests produce identification when renting a room at the Villa Las Palmas Motel.

The panel, which initially held a hearing in December, gave Wei six months to rid the motel of drug and prostitution activity alleged by police and Councilman Ernani Bernardi’s office in a 1991 complaint against the motel.

David Chang, an attorney representing Wei, said his client erected a fence, locked a side gate and installed bright lights to discourage loitering near the motel.

Both Chang and Fernando Wong, representing the Greater Los Angeles Hotel/Motel Assn., argued against the imposition of any conditions on the motel.

Their case was bolstered by Sgt. Ivan Minsal, who oversees the vice unit of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division. “It appears they are running a pretty decent ship,” Minsal said.