Couple Won’t Appeal Ruling Blocking Home Construction

A Tarzana couple has withdrawn an appeal of a recent city decision rejecting plans to build a luxury home on a mountain ridge, officials said Tuesday.

The action by Pamela and Richard Aronoff effectively ends a two-year battle with powerful homeowners’ associations that opposed construction of the 23,000-square-foot house.

“We’re going to sell the property and look for one someplace else,” Pamela Aronoff said Tuesday. “It’s not worth being this much a target of people’s anger.”

The Aronoffs had appealed a June planning commission vote rejecting their bid for a conditional use permit. Commissioners said the site was on a significant ridgeline protected by the city’s general plan. The appeal had been scheduled for review tonight by the City Council.

Residents had differing reactions to the plans for the three interconnected structures. Some called it innovative, while others said it looked like a radar station. Others opposed building on a ridgeline.

The Aronoffs said the house, which would have been on 2 1/2 acres, was designed by acclaimed architect Eric Owen Moss specifically for the site and couldn’t be built anywhere else.

The Aronoffs, who manage and own properties in Warner Center in Woodland Hills, bought the lot for $600,000 and spent another $300,000 on construction preparation, designs and presentations to the city.