Woodland Hills residents oppose 71-unit senior living facility
Screaming matches at LA City planning hearing
It may have been hot outside, but things were also heating up at an LA City Planning Commission hearing, where Woodland Hills residents were facing off with a developer.
LOS ANGELES - It may have been hot outside, but things were also heating up at an LA City Planning Commission hearing, where Woodland Hills residents were facing off with a developer.
The backstory:
Akhilesh Jah and his wife, Janet, want to turn the 4-bedroom, 3-bath house along Del Moreno Drive into a 71-unit senior living facility with a cafeteria and medical office.
Neighbors are battling the development, which would include no parking, in a residential neighborhood located within an LAFD fire zone.
City planning commissioners said their hands are tied because state housing laws allow developers who promise to include low-income housing in their projects to bypass parking, density and other local zoning laws.
What they're saying:
Jah tells FOX 11 the project includes eight low-income housing units. He is allowed to apply for variances to override zoning codes that include height, density and parking requirements.
Neighbors say he is using the law to destroy the neighborhood just to make a profit.
Local perspective:
The house sits across from Taft High School. On one side is a residential neighborhood; on the other, commercial structures that border Ventura Boulevard.
Most of the variances he sought were approved by the committee, but Jah says he still faces at least a couple of years of more hearings and permitting. Residents vow to fight him all the way.
The story playing out in Woodland Hills repeats itself in neighborhoods all over the state, where developers are bypassing zoning by adding low-income housing to their projects.