Studio City : Permit Issued to Build Controversial Eatery

The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has issued a construction permit to a controversial fast-food restaurant project, it was learned this week, even though a city official said Friday it had not done so.

The department granted In-N-Out Burger a building permit on June 20, and project opponents said the fast-food chain has demolished a former gas station on the site, at Cahuenga Boulevard and Regal Place.

On Friday, Richard Holguin, head of the building bureau, told The Times that the permit had not been issued and would be granted in a “couple weeks.” Holguin was not available for comment on Monday or Tuesday.

But Victor Penera, head of the plan-check division, said Holguin apparently was unaware that the permit had been issued. The mistake was discovered Monday when Fred Gaines, an attorney for Universal City Nissan, read a copy of the building permit that Penera had faxed to him on Friday. The car dealership is next to the proposed restaurant location, and its owners oppose the project.

Gaines said he, too, had been told by Holguin that the permit would be issued in a “couple weeks.”

Universal City Nissan and the Studio City Residents Assn. believe the building department erred in exempting the project from a public hearing and have asked the city Board of Building and Safety Commissioners to review its decision. The board hearing, originally scheduled for July 18, has been moved up to next Tuesday at the residents group’s request.

The residents are in a race against time. According to state law, Gaines said, if a developer makes substantial progress on a project, then the builder earns the right to complete the project, even though the city may want to rescind or modify its building permission.

“We’re very upset about it,” Gaines said. “We had relied on the representation of the head of the building bureau that the permit had not been issued. Had we known it was issued, then there were other avenues we could have pursued.”

Cahuenga Pass residents and another local businessman are also concerned about exempting the project from a special site plan review, which includes a public hearing. Like Studio City residents, they say they fear that the project will cause more accidents and traffic strangulation at the intersection, which also includes on- and off-ramps to the Hollywood Freeway.

“When you see a girl killed before your own eyes, and you see accidents once a week, you realize something has to be done,” said Michael George, manager of the Universal Plaza, a retail and office complex across the street and about 200 yards away from the proposed restaurant site.

“We’re going to have gridlock,” predicted Joan Luchs, a Cahuenga Pass resident.

Michael Wester, a member of the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Assn., said he believes that the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan calls for this type of project to undergo a site plan review.

The homeowners and business people say city law requires projects expected to generate 500 or more new vehicle trips to undergo a public hearing.

According to the city, the project is expected to generate 1,617 new trips a day if the current site is thought to be generating none. But if the current site is considered a gas station generating 1,040 trips a day, the new project would generate 577 additional trips a day.

However, Penera said the building department gave In-N-Out the permit because the city law requiring a public hearing for projects generating 500 or more new car trips only applies to those that convert one kind of business to another. Because the department knew the gas station would be demolished and an entirely new building constructed in its place, it did not consider the project to be a conversion.