Council OKs 85-Unit Seniors Housing Project

The Los Angeles City Council gave the go-ahead Wednesday for a controversial senior housing project in Sherman Oaks that supporters said had encountered trouble because of intolerance toward senior citizens.

Opponents of the 85-unit project proposed near Moorpark Street and Noble Avenue hotly denied they were motivated by prejudice against low-income elderly people who would live in the housing. Rather, they said, they objected to a legal exception that will allow the nonprofit developer to more than double the number of units allowed on the site.

But during the lengthy council debate that followed, it became clear that most council members had little sympathy.

“Who are the people who qualify for affordable senior housing?” Councilwoman Ruth Galanter asked. “It’s the people who taught you in fifth grade, the people who cleaned your teeth when you were 10 years old. . . . They retired on pensions a long time ago and can’t afford today’s housing market. It’s really unfair to say those people wouldn’t be welcome in your neighborhood.”

In a victory for Councilman Mike Feuer, whose district includes Sherman Oaks, the council voted 12 to 1 to reject neighbors’ appeal of the project proposed by the nonprofit Menorah Housing Foundation, thus allowing the development to go forward. The project will be built on what is now a fenced-enclosed hole in the ground that has lingered since the 1980s when a building plan failed.

Opposed was Councilman Richard Alarcon, who faulted Feuer for not building a better consensus among neighbors, and because Alarcon opposes the legal loophole that allowed the increase in density.

“I don’t think I heard anything from the community that they are opposed to seniors,” Alarcon said. “We are missing the boat on this. I would support a smaller project.”

But mostly, it was Feuer’s day.

“Brilliant,” is how Councilman Joel Wachs described Feuer’s efforts to get the project approved. Wachs said that while the opponents’ arguments were well-prepared, their stance lacked “humanness.”

“All it takes to become a low-income senior is one trip to the hospital,” he said.

Gray-haired council President John Ferraro inserted a light but nonetheless pointed remark that summed up the debate’s personal cast. “I don’t know if I have a conflict or not,” he joked, turning toward his closest contemporary on the council, Nate Holden. “Maybe, Mr. Holden, you and I have to recuse ourselves because we’re seniors?”

The complex will include 85 units and 85 parking spaces in a four-story building at 15126 Moorpark St. The site is entitled under zoning laws to 39 units without the special affordable housing exemption that allowed 85. Menorah is nonsectarian, and the development will be open to members of all religious faiths. But they must qualify as low-income applicants.

To assuage neighbors, Feuer persuaded Menorah to alter its plans to include twice the number of parking spaces required, and to set back the fourth floor of the building to lessen the effect of its profile.

Feuer argued that residents would feel the project’s presence less than they would a private development that would otherwise be built there.

But opponents, including the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., still objected to the increase in density.

“We are not opposed to affordable senior housing,” said Marcy Shaffer, who represented the homeowners at the meeting. “If Menorah were to build [housing] with 39 units, I personally would host the welcoming barbecue. It’s not an income issue or an age issue.”

Shaffer emphasized traffic concerns, and said the homeowners would consider whether to sue in a bid to stop the project.

She and other opponents left the meeting saying they felt angry and betrayed by Feuer.

But Feuer, a former legal advocate for seniors, was ebullient. “I feel so good about this,” he said.