The latest chapter in the Hillside Ordinance story was
written August 22nd. when the city ignored the law, ignored the speakers and
granted the builder a variance he hadn't even applied for just to make sure he
could build his house.
With the honorable exception of Frank Quintero (who alone
appreciates the rule of law), there is nothing this City Council won't do to
make sure developers have their way with substandard lots.
The case last night was an extremely steep lot that was
denied by the ZA and BZA 5 years ago. Sensing the new City friendliness to builders, they took
another run at the project, and, no surprise, this time they prevailed.
Thanks to Homeowner's Associations who have been protesting
the killing of oak trees in Glendale,
the City council was pressured into at least doing something to try to save a
great old oak tree the builder was going to bulldoze.
The City engineer wanted the builder to give up 4-5 feet of
his property to widen the street, since the lot is right on a dangerous and
narrow blind curve. With this dedication, the only way the builder could have
saved the oak tree would have been to build a smaller house.
His cronies on the City Council decided that this wasn't
fair, so they allowed him to build the house without the 4-5 foot
dedication to be taken into consideration! Not only that, they told him he
didn't have to widen the road right away - but that some day in the future
(presumably after someone on Kennington Drive is killed in a head-on collision
around that blind corner) the City could come in and reclaim the dedication and
widen the street (at City expense this time). That's when the setback will be
violated and the de-facto variance applies.
So what did these geniuses do last night?
A. They granted the owner a de-facto variance to have his
house closer to the where the City Engineer said the street needed to be
(WITHOUT making ANY findings of fact per California State Law)
B. They put residents of Kennington Drive into further jeopardy by
not making the builder widen the street for safety
C. They transferred the cost of widening the road for safety
from the builder to the City of Glendale, so
that if the road is ever widened the citizens of Glendale get to subsidize this builder.
D. They (once again) TOTALLY ignored the speakers who were
against the CUP by reason of the findings not being made by any factual
arguments or reasoning.
E. They spared an oak tree because it was a good excuse to
try to look like they were placating the public, while throwing another VERY
VALUABLE bone to their developer pals.
In short, the City Council violated the law again
(both in not addressing the findings for the CUP, and in granting a de-facto
variance without ANY findings), created another traffic hazard,
guaranteed the City will face future legal costs and road-widening
expense (because you can bet the City will be sued if there is an accident at
that blind corner) and added yet another unsightly 3-story house for the
people going up and down Chevy Chase to have to look at, and they just don't
care.
The bottom line is that since the City Council doesn't
consider hillside residents as important any more - they think they can win
favor by buying up open space while cramming an oversized house into every nook
and cranny of substandard real estate left in the hillsides.
The Council just doesn't CARE
about the quality of life in Northwest, Chevy Chase
or any of the hillside areas. They don't CARE
about the LAW or what it means to make findings in accordance with legal
principles. This City Council is a rogue council and it desperately needs to be
replaced with responsible adults.
