Mar Vista home project halted

Fire Department’s requirements are at odds with city-issued permits for the 17,000-square-foot residence.Construction was halted Tuesday on a South Laguna project in order to allow time for city staff, Fire Department officials, the property owner and critics of the project to try to reconcile their differences.

The City Council approved the temporary stoppage Tuesday evening after City Manager Ken Frank recommended the action. Resident Elizabeth Phillips had filed an appeal of administrative decisions to accept plans for 31401 Mar Vista Ave. that did not conform to design review board approval and the subsequent City Council directive for the project.

The applicant’s representative, Allen Harvey, claimed changes were made due to conditions imposed on the project by the council and consultation with the Fire Department.

The revisions were approved by Community Development Director John Montgomery before he issued the building permit.

Twelve speakers spoke against the project in the form it is being built, including changes to the landscaping and water quality plans. Those changes were dictated, Montgomery said, by conditions placed on the project by the council. Speakers also complained about retaining walls that are more visible, though not at a higher elevations, due to changes in grading for the landscape plan.

“These changes make a huge difference,” former Mayor Ann Christoph said.

“John [Montgomery] says that the changes are all a consequence of conditions imposed,” appellant representative Lisa Marks said. “How could staff allow this to occur without informing the council? It should go back to design review.”

Other alternatives included returning the project to Montgomery or keeping it at council level.

“This project has a long and contentious history, starting in 1990,” Montgomery said.

Plans were approved for the grounds, but not for a home. House plans were submitted in 2002 and approved after four design review board hearings in 2003. The council held another three meetings on the project and approved it with a number of conditions.

The Fire Department subsequently reviewed the project, but changes it requested were not submitted to the council for review.

Applicant representative Harvey said he did not consider the appeal valid. The council disagreed, but it also declined to send the project back to the design review board.

“To send it back to DRB, we would have to prove fraud,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said. “I don’t think it’s fraud, but was there misrepresentation? The biggest selling point [for the project] was that you will not know this 17,000 square foot house is even there.”

Opponents at the time said the project was not neighborhood-compatible, but then-Councilman Wayne Baglin said it was a neighborhood by itself.

“This is a ‘radioactive’ project, and that should mean no administrative approvals,” Iseman said. “I don’t want to put John [Montgomery] in this position. We don’t pay him enough money for that.”

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman said the problem was the council’s to fix.

“This is our mess,” Kinsman said. “What went wrong was probably our fault. We made what we thought were minor adjustments, but we didn’t know the Fire Department is taking a lot more authority than in the past.”

Councilwoman Jane Egly said that the process needs to be changed.

“The property owner and John [Montgomery] were trying to do everything we said and everything the Fire Department said,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “The Fire Department trumps staff and the council in the name of public safety, but we should be informed.”

The hearing was continued to the Nov. 15 council meeting.