WINDSOR SQUARE : Ruling Expected on Activities at Temple

A City Council committee last week backed a ruling by the Board of Zoning Appeals requiring the Scottish Rite Temple to abide by conditions regulating the rental of its facility or risk losing its operating permit.

The action by the council’s Planning and Land Use Management committee is the latest in a series of hearings on the temple at 4357 Wilshire Blvd.

The committee’s recommendation to support the zoning ruling will be considered Wednesday by the full council, which is likely to accept it. Council President John Ferraro, who represents the Mid-Wilshire area, has supported previous rulings that limit the number, size and variety of events for which the facility can be rented.

For several years, events at the temple, built in 1962 and the headquarters for a branch of the Freemasons, have been the subject of residents’ complaints.

In May, a city zoning administrator ruled that the temple’s rental of its facility for commercial events violated its operating permit, which limits it to nonprofit events related to the temple’s activities.

The ruling stated that the impact of non-Masonic events--noise, litter, parking problems on residential streets--constituted a “nuisance.”Failure to comply with the rental restrictions would result in the revocation of the temple’s operating permit, the ruling said.

Representatives of the temple say they have taken steps to mitigate the negative affects of events at their facility and point out that the temple is frequently used for events that benefit the community.

In addition to renting its space for concerts, banquets and other events, the temple has hosted, free of charge, events sponsored by the Police Department, local schools, churches and community groups, and served as quarters for National Guard troops during last year’s riots, said Lon Fishback, a member and former officer of the temple.

At last week’s hearing, H. Douglas Lemons, the Scottish Rite’s sovereign grand inspector general, acknowledged that the temple had been rented for commercial events in violation of its permit, but said such rentals are necessary to generate income to cover operating expenses.

The temple’s membership has declined by about 7,000 over the last decade, resulting in a budget deficit, Lemons said. Annual expenses, including utilities and mortgage payments, are $750,000, but dues paid by the approximately 5,500 members amount only to $250,000, he said.

One resident who lives near the temple said at the hearing that he had not noticed any problems with events there and expressed concern that the property would be allowed to deteriorate if sold.

But members of the Windsor Square Assn. and the Wilshire Homeowners’ Alliance said they have complained about noise, litter and parking congestion since the 1970s. The two homeowners groups want the temple to abide by the existing zoning regulations, said John Welborne, a member of both groups.