Plan for Dream Home Is Couple’s Nightmare
It was supposed to be a dream house in the making. Perched on a hill in Calabasas, it would provide ample space and awesome views of mountains, trees, homes and the San Fernando Valley below.
But getting the 23,000-square-foot house built has been more like a nightmare for Pamela and Richard Aronoff. After spending $600,000 for the lot and tens of thousands more for soil tests, presentations to homeowner associations and designs by a critically acclaimed architect, the 26-acre property remains undeveloped.
And the Aronoffs are in a protracted battle with neighbors who belong to homeowner associations, which carry significant influence at Calabasas City Hall because they represent thousands of residents.
When residents saw plans for the large home, much of which would be underground, reaction was mixed. Some said the three interconnected structures were innovative; others said they looked like a radar station.
Some objected to the proposed 18-car garage, suspicious that the Aronoffs, a Tarzana couple who manage and own properties in Warner Center, planned to use the house for commercial purposes. Others opposed building on a ridgeline.
“City planners kept implying that we should be nervous,” Pamela said.
Perhaps with reason.
During a June 22 meeting, the city’s Planning Commission in a 3-2 vote rejected the Aronoffs’ bid for a conditional use permit to build the home. Commissioners said the site was on a significant ridgeline protected under the city’s General Plan.
The Aronoffs have one more chance, when the City Council reviews their appeal Sept. 20.
The process has taken an emotional toll. Richard, 52, wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep thinking about the upcoming appeal, said Pamela, 43.
Because the lot is on Saint Andrews Lane, a gated street just outside the Mulholland Highway Scenic Corridor, the Aronoffs face strict guidelines. Two years ago they purchased the land, which had been graded for construction when it was under county jurisdiction.
Although the couple knew Calabasas had strict development standards, Pamela said they were surprised by the city’s scrutiny of one house.
The proposed 2 1/2-acre structure is significantly different from the surrounding Spanish and Mediterranean style homes. Their house would have three elevators and 8,500 square feet of underground garage and storage space. Although other Calabasas homes have more living space, the Aronoffs’ house would have the most total square footage, city officials said.
The Aronoffs said they need the extra room for elderly parents, guests and storage. Although they plan to work from home, the house would not be used commercially, Pamela said. The design also calls for a pool, tennis court and horse shelter.
“It’s a very careful attempt to break the building into pieces, to present a thoughtful view of what a house should be,” said architect Eric Owen Moss, who is based in Culver City.
The planning commissioners suggested moving the house to a location on the property where it would be less visible and less vulnerable to brush fires, but the Aronoffs refused. They said the house was designed for a specific site and the plans could not be adjusted.
Plan Rejected by Commissioners
David M. Brown, vice chairman of the Planning Commission, said he voted against the project because the house would dilute the area’s rural character.
“Let’s be candid: These structures will elicit comments to the effect of, ‘What in the blazes is that?’ ” he said.
Other commissioners said the house constituted multiple dwellings in a single-family residence, which is not permitted. They also were concerned it would attract curious tourists and architecture students.
Moss, who has designed buildings in Spain, Cuba and Austria, said Calabasas’ development guidelines are too tough.
“[The Aronoffs spent] over $100,000 in a presentation to a tiny city,” he said. “I think it’s abusive. The Viennese aren’t this insidious or draconian. . . . I find this process impossible. It discourages innovation.”
The house’s artistic design gave Brown mixed feelings about rejecting it, he said, but the commission had to take neighbors’ complaints into consideration.
“People don’t always want to see strange, unusual things next to their house,” he said.
Robert W. Benson, whose home would face the proposed residence, said construction should not be allowed on what many neighbors believe is a significant ridgeline.
“I think the Aronoffs have no legitimate right to complain,” Benson said. “They knew that they were putting their money and egos at risk from the outset. What they forgot about is the process has democratic safeguards.”
Couple Thought Bases Were Covered
Yet, the Aronoffs seemingly had all their bases covered. They met with neighbors, some of them hostile, several times in the spring. They received a green light from Los Angeles County fire officials, hired Warner Center land-use consultant Brad M. Rosenheim to represent them and prepared computer-generated photos of the proposed house.
But after about a year of working closely with city staff, the Aronoffs wound up in a Catch-22, Pamela said. The couple had prepared detailed work for the Planning Commission, but when commissioners received it, they said they were presented with a complex plan virtually set in stone.
The couple acknowledge they made some mistakes. During a geological exploration, about 40 scrub oak plants were removed from the site, violating a city ordinance and angering neighbors. Also, in preparation for the Planning Commission meeting in June, they failed to secure written approval from a majority of the three families on Saint Andrews Lane, who comprise an official homeowner group.
Phil Mundy, who lives on Saint Andrews Lane, said he would welcome the Aronoffs and their house.
“It’s annoying to me [that] you can have so many people upset about a house,” Mundy said. “The whole thing has been a very nasty ordeal.”
