GREATER VALLEY GLEN COUNCIL

Planning and Land Use Committee Meeting

Chair: Gary Popenoe

7:00 PM March 27, 2006

Los Angeles Valley College

Cafeteria Conference Room

Attendees:       

                  Matthew Shapiro – Council/Committee Member

                  Karen Shapiro – Stakeholder/Committee Member

                  Terry Anderson – Council Vice President/Committee Member

                  Judy Price – Council President/Committee Member

                  Charlotte Laws – Council/Committee Member

                  Gary Popenoe – Council Member/Committee Chairman

                  Lloyd Nelson ­­– Council/Committee Member

                  David Poster – Council/Committee Member

                  Gracie Poster – Council Member

                  Jeff Seymour – Seymour Group

                  Gregg Masini – Developer

                  Armin Gharai – Developer

1.       Call to Order and Roll Call

 2.       Request for zone change at 12430 West Lemay Street: From R1-1 (one family zone) to R3-1 (multiple family zone). Proposed project is a 2- story, maximum 36 foot high, 14 unit apartment building (including one density bonus unit) providing 27 parking spaces in a basement garage on an approximately 10,650 SF irregular shaped lot. Applicant is Dan Close, Lemay LLC, represented by Jeff Seymour. –  A motion was made to support the request with two amendments as follows: 1) The committee considers parking count allowed by current code to be inadequate. The committee recommends increasing the parking count primarily for the 1 bedroom units from 1.5 parking spaces per unit to 2. Amendment 2) Provide minimum four foot box trees in rear yard spaces as required for the chosen species to buffer the development from the adjacent one story single family home. Motion past with five yes and one no.

3.       Request for modifications to the current zoning at 13521 West Vanowen Street: Current zone is a combination of R3-1 (multiple family residential) and R1-1 (one family zone). There are two requests: 1) Reduce the zoned lot area requirement per unit to allow construction of 18 vs. 17.5 units. 2) Zone boundary adjustment near north property line increasing the R3-1 portion of the lot. The proposed project is a 3 story, 18 unit condominium providing at least 40 parking spaces in a basement or garden level garage on an approximately 14.400 SF lot. The applicant is Armin Gharai. – A motion was made to support the request with two amendments as follows: 1) The committee considers parking count allowed by current code to be inadequate. The committee recommends increasing the parking count to the maximum extent allowed by the footprint of the building. 2) Provide minimum four foot, box trees in rear yard spaces as required for the chosen species to buffer the development from the adjacent one story single family home. The motion passed unanimously.

4.       Union 76 gas station sign at the corner of Woodman and Oxnard – 6003 Woodman Avenue: Request for modification to existing zoning to allow a pole mounted business sign at this address to replace an existing pole mounted sign. Current zoning (Q) C1.5 – 1VL (commercial) does not allow pole signs. Applicant is Ali Roohani  - Note that Mr. Roohani was not present for the meeting. A motion was made to support LA City Planning’s recommendation to install a monument type sign in lieu of the requested pole type sign. Motion past with three yes, one no and two abstentions.

5.       Historic Preservation Overlay Zones – Discussions and possible motion regarding possibilities for HPOZs in Valley Glen – General discussions occurred about the possibility of HPOZs to preserve areas or streets of Valley Glen densely populated by collections of California ranch style homes. These homes are usually characterized by board and batt siding, diamond mullion windows and the occasional bird house ornament at roof peaks.  The committee chairman reported on a current HPOZ effort for the 13600 block of Delano and Bessemer Streets. 90% of the residents of these streets were reported by the organizers to support the proposed HPOZ. The nature of restrictions to improvements to the existing homes is yet to be determined.

4.   Adjournment

Regular meetings of the Greater Valley Glen Council are the first Monday of the month (except holidays), 7:00 P.M. at Los Angeles Valley College, Faculty Lounge or Cafeteria Conference Room, 5800 Fulton Avenue, Valley Glen. For additional information, check the web site www.greatervalleyglencouncil.org.