No Problem in Granada Hills with McMansions … Just Lack of Notice

VOICES-The sad part is the 1300 Old Granada Hills area homeowners whose private property rights will be restricted by the Residential Floor Area (RFA) overlay district have NEVER BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE PROPOSED CHANGES. I only learned of it by accident while marketing in my neighborhood in Feburary of 2013. (See CityWatch article.)  

If passed, the property owners will be subject to restrictions that are 40% less than the rest of Granada Hills. The Department of City Planning (DCP) has not complied with the requirement to notice the property owners and surrounding property owners within 500 feet of the boundaries. 

Instead, they have been buried the restrictions into the proposed New Granada Hills Community Plan which was formulated in 2006. Currently the Community Plan is still in process waiting for a final Environmental Impact Report.   

Currently over 350 signatures have been obtained from Granada Hills Homeowners opposed to the Residential Floor Area Restrictions being proposed and more are being added as the word gets out and the homeowners become aware by grass roots efforts those who have already signed the petition. 

The governing ordinance is the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance (BMO) which includes a "tool" for the establishment of a RFA district when desired by a majority of homeowners. This issue should be publicized and brought out into the open and discussed and voted upon by the homeowners for a democratic process. 

There is NO Evidence of a Problem with box like McMansions in Granada Hills since the BMO was passed in 2008. Over 90 percent of the fix and flip properties in the Old Granada Hills Neighborhood for the last 5 years have been modest with only 1 story additions to old blighted properties. 

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This indicates the BMO is working just fine for Old Granada Hills and there is no need for additional floor area restrictions or an Interim Control Ordinance to temporarily impose the restrictions as recommended by the City Council Planning and Land Use Committee to City Council on Tuesday November 4, 2014. 

Additionally there was already an ICO for Old Granada Hills for 3 years and it expired in 2007. Therefore it would be illegal to enact another ICO for Old Granada Hills.

(William Kuzmin - Realtor since 1983, Old Granada Hills Homeowner since 1987.)

-cw

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 91

Pub: Nov 11, 2014