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Letter from Don Krim against the mansion on Durand:
To Jason Chan
Los Angeles City Planning Dept.
Re DIR-2008-0021-SPP-DRB 3315 Durand Drive
We are 8-year residents of Hollywoodland, residing at 6182
Mulholland Hwy in the first house built in the original
subdivision. We are writing to recommend denial of a
3,035 square foot addition to an existing 4,235 square foot
main residence, and a detached 824 square foot garage, for a
project totaling 8,094 square feet on a lot of 26,279 square
feet at 3315 Durand Drive.
We are currently out of the country and not only were unable
to attend the Public Hearing, but did not receive notice of
the hearing, nor apparently did others who normally do so,
if not through the city, through homeowner's associations.
We understand only 2 members of the public attended the
hearing.
The DRB and the Planning Dept. are charged with
"implementing the design goals of "[Hollywoodland]" and
evaluating "proposed projects based on defined objectives
established in the [Hollywoodland] Specific Plan" (SEC.
16.50, City Ord. No. 73,268).
The DRB failed in its charge in recommending approval of the
project. Such a project, at 8,094 square feet, is clearly
and unequivocally in violation of the letter, spirit and
intent of Purpose E of the Specific Plan-- "To protect
against development of overly massive buildings which are
out-of-scale with the existing buildings."
The City Planning Dept. has established a clear, objective
and compelling precedent for evaluating the merits of this
project in DIR-2006-9425-SPP-DRB 3314 & 3320 Lugano Place,
determination May 7, 2007. In that finding, denying approval
of a 6,398 square foot project on a 19,166 square foot lot,
the city planner found that:
Pursuant to LAMC Section 11.5.7 C.2.(a) and Section
16.50.D.3.(d), the project does not substantially comply
with the applicable regulations, standards and provisions of
the Hollywoodland Specific Plan.
The project was evaluated per Section 2.E of the
Hollywoodland Specific Plan. The purpose and intent of the
Specific Plan is to protect the neighborhood from over-sized
buildings that are out of scale with other buildings in the
neighborhood. The intention of this provision is to preserve
the integrity of Hollywoodland and prevent mansionization of
this portion of the City of Los Angeles.
The size of the proposed project is not in scale with the
existing buildings directly abutting the project. The
proposed livable area of 4,811 square feet make the project
1,022 squre feet larger than the existing residence at 3321
Lugano which neighbors to the west and features 3, 889
square feet. The project is 1,900 square feet larger than
the existing resident at 3267 Ledgewood which lies directly
to the south. The project is directly downslope from 6182
Mulholland, which features 3,765 square feet.
The project will drastically dwarf the residences directly
abutting to the east, 3279 and 3301 Ledgewood. The sizes of
these residences are 1,450 and 1,378 square feet,
respectively. Therefore, the proposed project is 1,022-3,533
square feet larger than the abutting existing residences.
In addition, a study was conducted on existing homes within
a 500' radius from the proposed project site pursuant to
item 20 of the Hollywoodland Design Guidelines Point System.
There we 70 existing residences included in the study and
the square footages are recorded. The largest residence
noted in the study is 6233 Mulholland which features 4,066
square feet, the smallest residence is located at 3322
Ledgewood which currently features 981 square feet. The
average size for the 70 residences is 2,437 square feet.
Therefore, the proposed project at 4,911 square feet is
overly massive and out of scale with existing residences in
the immediate area and does not conform to Purpose 2.E of
the Specific Plan.
Purpose 2 of the Specific Plan is enforced by item 20 of the
Design Guidelines Point system which awards the second
largest amount of points (6 points) for a project if it is
smaller than 2,500 square feet or within 125% of the average
floor area of all homes within a 500 foot radius of the
site. The project fails to meet the requirements of item 20
of the Points System by exceeding 200% of the average floor
area within a 500 foot radius...Though the Specific Plan
does not specifically prohibit such large buildings, it is
the intent of the Plan not to permit them.
Applying the same standards to the current proposed project
at 3315 Durand would yield the following results:
· 3315 Durand would be 4,164 square feet larger than 6266
Mulholland Hwy, which abuts upslope to the west at 3,480
square feet
· 3315 Durand would be 5,887 square feet larger than 3207
Durand, which abuts to the South at 2,207 square feet.
In as much as the property is located in very close
proximity to 3314 Lugano Pl., an analysis of essentially the
same homes in the same 500' radius would yield virtually
identical results. That survey's findings found:
· The largest house at 6233 Mulholland with 4,066 square
feet, the smallest at 3322 Ledgewood with 981 square feet.
The average size for the 70 residences was 2,437 square
feet.
Therefore, the existing residence at 3315 Durand is already
one of the largest in the area, and with the addition would
be about 3.5 times larger than the average. It would also be
fully twice the size as the largest in that sampling. In the
interest of fairness, were the city to conduct a new
analysis, the 500' radius would be skewed to the South-West,
and might take in some or all of the large hilltop homes
near Castilla del lago. But only one of those exceeds even
4900 square feet.
That single house is Castillo de lago, which contains 7,783
square feet and sits on multiple lots totaling over 100,000
square feet. In summary, the size of this house would be
second only to Castillo del lago in all of Hollywoodland
sitting on approximately 1/4 of the acreage, in the middle
of the subdivision.
The Los Angeles Planning Dept. has recently spear-headed
anti-mansionization ordinances for the flats of Los Angeles
and our neighboring Oaks hillside community. By way of
comparison, using the FAR formula of the Oaks Interim
Control Ordinance, FAR taking into account the ratio of
square footage to lot size, the maximum buildable house for
this lot would be 3,897 square feet, which is approximately
the square footage for the existing house (which shows as
slightly smaller on city records than in this proposal).
We cannot see any justification for a ruling in favor of
this proposal in light of the Hollywoodland Specific Plan,
and in light of the most comprehensive decision upholding
the letter, spirit and intent of the HSP made in recent
memory by the Planning Department in numerically comparable
circumstances.
Thank you for your attention.
Don Krim
David Russell
6182 Mulholland Hwy.
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We want to
hear from you
@beachwoodcanyon.org
email THE BOARD
Larry Markes
PRESIDENT
George
Abrahams VP
Gary Wilmes
TREASURER
Fran Reichenbach
SEC'Y
Nina VanTassel
Board
Jack Fitzgerald Board
Lori Hughes
Board
Missy Kelly
Board
Mary Anne Nelson Board
BCNA
Bylaws
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Public
hearings
There's
always something.
Wall
on Rodgerton
proposed development across from the Reichenbach's on
Westshire.
☼
Nearby Groups
Argyle
Civic Ass'n.
Glen Oaks
HHA
Dell
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