RESEDA : Retirement Home Gets OK to Expand

A Los Angeles zoning panel on Tuesday approved a retirement home’s request for permission to expand its facilities, despite the protests of nearby homeowners.

The Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals went beyond a previous decision of a city zoning official, allowing the Jewish Home for the Aging to expand its one-story main building in Reseda into a five-story structure.

In January, Associate Zoning Administrator Dan Green had limited the expansion to three stories.

The panel also approved the rest of the proposal, which includes a three-story board-and-care facility, a 240-space underground parking garage, and the addition of a second story to the dining and kitchen building. In all, 212,000 square feet of space would be added under the proposed project.

In making its decision, panel members said that they see a need to provide housing for a growing number of senior citizens, and that they believe that the retirement home, at 7150 Tampa Ave., has made an effort to be a good neighbor to nearby homeowners, City Planner Ed Barr said.

One nearby resident who attended the hearing to oppose the project did not agree.

Charlotte Baker, who lives near the retirement home, said she and other neighbors fear that the expansion will lead to a devaluation of their homes.

Baker said she is also concerned about increased traffic during construction, and noise from employees talking and taking out garbage.

The zoning panel modified several of the conditions of approval ordered by Green, the main one being that the home relocate its trash bins so that they are at least 50 feet away from surrounding homes.