Council Opposes Disputed Fence Height

Pacific Palisades Community Council members voted unanimously last Thursday night to write letters to city authorities stating their position on a local, residential land-use issue. The subject of the dispute is 15204 Friends St. in the bluffs neighborhood near Via de las Olas, south of Sunset, where neighbors argue the homeowners are constructing a front-yard fence that violates Los Angeles Municipal Code height requirements. The property is owned by “Buddy Love Trust,” and lawyers who represent the owners were invited to present their side of the dispute at the council meeting. When the attorneys did not show up, Chris Spitz, who lives next door at 15210 Friends and opposes the construction, announced that she and her husband, Jeff, had learned that day that the home was listed for sale. However, Spitz added that Zoning Administrator Lourdes Green of the L.A. Department of City Planning is set to hear the case at a public hearing on October 27 because the owners of 15204 Friends St. applied for a zoning administrator’s determination on the fence construction in June. “As far as I’m concerned it’s still going forward,” Spitz told the council, and she reiterated her and her husband’s request that the council write a letter to the zoning administrator stating its opposition to the proposed project. The council voted to do so. The Spitzes had presented their opposition to the project and the failure of the city to enforce existing codes, regulations and rulings, at the September 22 council meeting. Among legal violations, they argue that the proposed construction is inconsistent with existing fence/hedge structures on the street and in the surrounding neighborhood; that, if allowed, it would set a dangerous precedent with the risk of affecting the character of the street and neighborhood; and that it would destroy their front-yard ocean view. The notice of public hearing states that the applicant’s request is a zoning administrator’s determination “to permit the construction, use and maintenance of wooden fences and gates with a maximum height of 6 feet 8 inches within the front-yard setback area.” The Municipal Code permits a maximum height of 3 feet 6 inches within the front yard. According to the Code, “the terms ‘fence’ and ‘wall’ include “latticework, ornamental fences, screen walls, hedges or thick growths of shrubs or trees.” The Spitzes also argue that the property owners began construction before obtaining the necessary building permits and that they are in violation of a “stop work order” issued by Building and Safety in March. A visit to the Building and Safety Web site reveals that 15204 Friends St. is in violation of unapproved construction, which is “under investigation,” and an over-height fence in the required front yard. “I want there to be some action or enforcement,” Chris Spitz told the Palisadian-Post Tuesday. Margaret Richardson, the City Planning Department investigator assigned to this case, said Wednesday morning that she had received a message on her voice mail from an attorney representing the Friends St. property owners, saying that they were “intending to withdraw their application.” Richardson said she had not yet spoken with the attorney but that a letter in writing would have to be filed with the Office of Zoning Administration. The Friends St. property, a 4-bedroom home built in 2002, is listed for $3,595,000. An open house scheduled for Tuesday was canceled.