Fee Hikes Urged for Appeals of Projects

Los Angeles residents who appeal a city planning decision would have to pay up to $5,000 if they challenge a project that is more than 500 feet from their own residence, under a proposal backed by Mayor Richard Riordan.

Scheduled to be considered today by the City Council, the fee is intended to discourage frivolous appeals that Riordan says impede business growth.

But some homeowners association officials are calling the proposal unconstitutional and vow to challenge it in court.

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., argues that charging higher fees according to the distance residents live from proposed projects violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

“It’s a violation of the 14th Amendment,” said Schultz, who added that he is meeting with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union to prepare to fight the plan.

Under the city’s current fee structure, a resident who opposes a decision by a city zoning or planning panel must pay $64 to appeal to a higher decision-making body, regardless of where the resident lives.

The fee package proposed by a development reform committee created by Riordan sets a maximum of $150 for an appeal, but increases it up to $5,000 for residents living more than 500 feet from the project.

The fee could be less, depending on the city’s cost of holding hearings and issuing notices to interested parties.

The proposal also would put a cap of $10,000 on fees that developers would pay to appeal when their projects are rejected by a city panel or agency. The city now has no cap and charges developers the entire cost of additional hearings.

The fee package was developed by Riordan’s Development Reform Committee, which the mayor formed to help make the city’s planning and development process more friendly to business. The group, whose members include real estate lawyers and other representatives of the development industry, has been criticized by homeowner groups, who say it does not include enough community representatives.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Morris acknowledged that the higher fees are designed to discourage appeals that slow down development and cost businesses time and money.

“The whole idea is to reduce the frivolous appeals that are without any merit,” she said.

The system makes it too easy for homeowners to block new projects, she said. Often, the homeowners who appeal the most live miles from the project that they oppose and thus suffer no negative effects from it, she said.

“We have to consider how far from a project can you be and still be aggrieved,” she said.

Morris said the 500-foot standard is not unprecedented. She said many state and federal pollution laws set a 500-foot standard defining who will be most affected and who should be notified about a new project.

Some City Council members have expressed outrage at the proposal, saying that it will chill the ability of residents to participate in the city’s planning process.

Councilman Joel Wachs said he opposes the proposal because the most controversial development projects tend to go into minority and low-income neighborhoods where residents cannot afford the appeal fees.

Gordon Murley, a leader of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., said the increased fees violate Riordan’s campaign promise not to increase taxes.

But Morris responded: “We certainly would not see this as a tax.”