Bonin Takes on City Over Home Ordinance

By ERIKA MARTIN | Reporter

After public comment on the city’s anti-mansionization ordinance closed last week, Palisadians must now gird themselves for the full report that could reshape the area due on July 14.

Councilmember Mike Bonin has joined the fray with a strong letter to city planners urging that the Palisades should be treated differently from other areas in the city who need stronger protection from new “McMansions.”

The proposed regulations, which would clamp down on future developments and potentially affect house prices in the area, are causing friction between some well-known Palisadians.

Jack Allen, who spearheaded protests against the Caruso development, last week switched targets and condemned the Pacific Palisades Civic League, which maintains architectural standards and questions the proposed regulations, saying it is out of touch with resident needs.

Bonin, who seeking to draw a line between the Palisades and even other cities under his aegis such as Brentwood and Venice, says that the city’s“one size fits all” approach is unfair.

On June 15, Councilmember Mike Bonin filed a letter with Director of Planning Vince Bertoni expounding the need for a separate set of regulations tailored specifically to the Palisades, saying the current proposal “highlights again how one size does not fit all when it comes to land use regulations in Los Angeles.”

“I have heard from countless residents in the Pacific Palisades that the proposed BMO and BHO amendments are … creating an issue for Palisades neighborhoods that are happy with the current rules,” Bonin wrote.

He explained that while the area’s single-family lots are standard in size and shape, their development pattern does not match that on similar lots in other LA communities. Thus, the regulations restrict potential development “well beyond what the community would like to see,” Bonin said.

“It’s the smaller houses that are actually ‘out of scale’ or ‘not in character’ with the development on the rest of the block,” he continued, noting that local conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) “have led to the redevelopment of neighborhoods that meets the expectations of Palisades residents.”

While neighborhood councils in other parts of the city, local community groups have voiced their opposition, including the Pacific Palisades Community Council and Pacific Palisades Civic League (PPCL), which reviews and approves plans for homes within Tract 9300 covering the Alphabet Streets, Village Bluffs and El Medio Bluffs.

However, in response to a letter by PPCL President and architect Richard Blumenberg asking the city exclude the tract from the BMO/BHO, longtime resident Jack Allen questioned the group’s ability to enforce its CC&Rs and said it no longer represents property owners’ views.

“Because the guidelines are not enforceable is all the more reason why homeowners in Tract 9300 need the city to approve the amendments to the BMO/BHO ordinance,” Allen said. “It is a sham for the architects to use the defunct Civic League as a bully pulpit to continue to attack any efforts by the city to reign in mansionization in Tract 9300.”

If adopted, the amendment would affect neighborhoods within Pacific Palisades that are not in the coastal zone.