PPRA Files Lawsuit Against City of LA, Coastal Commission

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

The Pacific Palisades Residents Association filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday, July 24, in its latest attempt to block the construction of an eldercare facility in The Highlands by developer Rony Shram.

The lawsuit will be filed in the form of a “petition for writ of mandate”: a request for a court order that demands a government agency to follow the law or correct prior actions.

PPRA will now take on the city and CCC in LA Superior Court, just two weeks after losing an appeal before the CCC in Santa Cruz and three months after being denied an appeal by the West Los Angeles Planning Commission.

“The factual and legal justifications for the decisions of the city of Los Angeles and the Coastal Commission were insufficient,” said attorney for PPRA Tom Donovan in a statement to the Palisadian-Post on Monday. “The developer consistently refused to provide a detailed projection of the number of employees and visitors that will come to the project each day.”

The attorney is counting on a fair hearing in the court’s system, this time without the influence of lobbyists and ex-parte communications, in addition to putting more financial pressure on the developer.

“We do not oppose eldercare or the ability of a developer to earn a profit from his land,” PPRA President Sarah Conner said in the statement. “But neighbors are entitled to have their concerns addressed, which the city has so far failed to do, and development must comply with the state’s environmental laws and the city’s planning ordinances.”

This lawsuit will be the latest battle in a statewide war against the city of LA and the CCC. Earlier this year, the city lost a case against imposing a beach curfew in Venice that resulted in extended beach hours. In the city of Del Mar, the city council filed a lawsuit against the CCC after it rejected an ordinance that would limit short-term vacation rentals.

In the Palisades, Shram, who did not respond to the Post’s request for comment before going to print, has not budged on any design or infrastructure changes to appease the many neighbors and Palisadians who oppose the project based on characteristics like view-blocking heights and proximity to popular trail heads.

At the same time, local leaders, including Councilmember Mike Bonin, have shown public support for the project, which may have been an influential factor in the city and state’s decision to allow the building.

“Palisadians understand that eventually something will be built on the lot,” Conner said. “But whatever is built needs to be of legal size, resolve ordinance violations, provide mitigation to compensate for its adverse environmental effects, and address realistically the traffic and parking problems the project creates.

“The city’s politicized process has failed to provide the protection our community needs, so we are going to court to ensure the law is fairly enforced.”