The renowned horror film director, Wes Craven, recently passed away. One of his most enduring characters was Freddy Kreuger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. And, the reason they were able to have such a successful series of movies was that Freddy never died (actually he was already dead, and it was his spirit that haunted people, but I digress). Well, there is a proposed project in our community that appears to be Kruegeresque.
The project I'm referring to is located at 5370 Mt. Royal Drive, just below the 134 Freeway. The developer proposes to subdivide the property into 8
lots, and building a gated community of 8 homes accessible by a new private street. If this sounds familiar, it is because the TERA and the community strongly opposed this project when it was first proposed in 2013.
To make this project work, the developer is also requesting variances
to allow for smaller front yard setbacks, higher side yard walls than permitted, and numerous retaining walls that would exceed the permitted maximum height. And, because this project is on a hillside, the developer is asking to grade nearly 30,000 cubic yards and export over 21,000 cubic yards of hillside earth. The City's Baseline Hillside Ordinance permits a maximum of 1,000 cubic yards of grading and 750 cubic yards of export. So, the developer is asking for a massive exception.
Back in 2013, TERA strongly opposed this project and we continue to strongly oppose it today for the same reasons. We oppose this project because of the excessive number of variances that would be needed relating to the number and height of the retaining walls, the front yard setbacks, the side yard walls, and the magnitude of the grading. We also believe that this property serves as an unofficial wildlife habitat and that development may damage the ecosystem of the flora and fauna located there. In addition, this area serves as a buffer should a brush fire jump the freeway (You may recall the August 7th brush fires that occurred below the freeway at the top of Mt. Royal).
And, finally, the neighbors and the council office do not support this project. When I reached out to the Council District 14 office for the Councilmember Jose Huizar's position on the project, they voiced their agreement with TERA's position and provided the following statement from the councilmember:
"The request for hillside grading, variances and a subdivision to allow 8 homes at the top of Mt Royal concerns me. The project asks for gross deviations from the Hillside Ordinance, a law I championed to preserve the iconic hillside of Northeast Los Angeles. I cannot support this. The hearing will take place on Sept. 24th at 10 a.m. in City Hall. I encourage those with concerns to attend the hearing or submit an email to kevin.golden@lacity.org" ~ Councilman Jose Huizar
The hearing that the councilmember is referring to is being held by the City Planning Department to consider the developer's application. You can access a copy of the hearing notice, which gives a more detailed description of what will be considered,
at this link, but here are the date and location of the hearing:
Case No.: TT-71245
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2015
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Place: Los Angeles City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Room 1050
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Staff Contact: Kevin Golden
Phone No.: (213)978-1396
You can help by attending the hearing, or sending a letter or e-mail voicing your opposition. The address to mail letters to regarding this case (note: it's slightly different than the hearing location) is:
Planning Department
Division of Land Section
200 N. Spring Street, Room 720
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Please be sure to reference the case number TT-71245 and the address (5370 Mt. Royal Drive) in your correspondence.
You can also attend a special meeting of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council board that will be hearing this issue. That meeting will take place tomorrow evening after the meeting the ERNC Land Use and Planning Committee meeting:
Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Special Board Meeting
Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 8:30 p.m.
Eagle Rock City Hall
2035 Colorado Boulevard
I urge you to take part in both meetings and voice your opposition. That way we can prevent a Nightmare on Mt. Royal Drive.
