Nursery May Need to Pull Up Its Roots

Time is running out for the Theodore Payne Foundation.

For almost 30 years, the nonprofit organization has sold wildflowers and other native plants out of a modest wooden building in Sun Valley.

But the zoning variance that allows it to operate its current office expires Sept. 14. Unless a new variance is approved by the city of Los Angeles, the foundation will have to find another home from which to preach the virtues of native plants.

“There’s nothing in our application that’s new,” said John Wickham, treasurer of the foundation’s board.

The foundation applied for the new variance in July, asking the city to allow it to continue to operate just as it has for decades, he said.

Named for a pioneering horticulturist who made more than 400 species of California plants available to home gardeners, the Theodore Payne Foundation controls two adjoining parcels of land off West Tuxford Street in Sun Valley. Its extensive nursery is on the larger, 20-acre parcel. That property is mostly hillside, with a relatively small, flat area where native plants are propagated and nurtured. Zoned for agricultural use, it needs no variance to function as it now does.

The controversial parcel is 1.2 acres to the south, closest to West Tuxford Street. The small plot includes the office building--recently rid of termites and repainted--parking lots and a picnic area. Lizards skitter across the property, deer sometimes wander behind the office, and its richly scented sages and other plants are labeled with both their common and scientific names.

To maximize the likelihood that a variance will be granted, the foundation hired Glendale land-use consultants Novak + Associates.

As foundation President Ellen Mackey explained in a recent mailing to the foundation’s 900 members, the cost of obtaining the variance is expected to be $20,000 or more, including application fees of several thousand dollars and the cost of the consultant.

Like most zoning issues, the foundation’s application has brought neighborhood tensions to the surface.

The foundation recently sent letters to nearby residents, asking them to share any gripes.

Wickham said the city received a letter from a neighbor worried about fire danger; the foundation has been clearing brush within 200 feet of nearby buildings.

Neighbors also complained of the traffic on a road the foundation shares with some residents. The deeply rutted road is unpaved, and dust is an issue, Wickham said, as is the caretaker’s dog, which has strayed on a few occasions.

“If that’s the extent of the problem, it’s easy to fix,” he said.

“I think the city will let us operate there while the application is pending,” said Orest Dolyniuk, the Novak consultant. He said the decision process usually takes three to four months.

If the variance is denied, the foundation might be able to move its operation up the hill, off the contested parcel. But building a new office and sales facility would be expensive--in excess of $100,000, Wickham estimated.

The worst-case scenario would be having to move to a new location. “By operating where we are, we have the opportunity to develop some nice demonstration gardens to support our educational mission,” Wickham said.