Dateline>City of Angels

I read with some amusement Curbed L.A.’s post on a group of newly (some are saying poorly) built homes in Silverlake that are finding no buyers–or renters for that matter. It’s another chapter in a long saga whose backstory Curbed L.A. has no way of knowing. As a former homeowner on the street, however, I’m familiar with all the sordid details. Consider it yet another horror story from a city that’s way too cozy with developers.

Ivan Hill Terrace is a long, quaint, narrow hillside cul-de-sac overlooking Glendale Blvd. and Rowena. It boasts an eclectic mix of character homes dating from the 1920s onward. Until several years ago, it was also home to a large vacant lot.

Residents called the lot a “greenspace,” but mostly it was a patch of weeds. By night, coyotes taught their pups to hunt along its slopes. By day, neighbors used it to relieve their pooches. Few objected when they heard the owner (who reportedly lived in another city) had finally decided to build several homes there. But they did object to any variances that might negatively impact on the street’s character, views and already-cramped parking situation.

Neighbors met with the land’s owner and his L.A.-based developer. They received the usual assurances that the project would meet all their concerns and even raise property values. They were shown plans for high-quality, Craftsman-inspired homes with lovely brick and river-rock architectural elements. All seemed well.

Here, it’s probably helpful to describe our street’s residents back in the late 1990s to early 2000s. We were a diverse mix of actors, studio people, city workers, writers, artists, semi-retirees and gay couples. In other words, just the sort of people who will find the time to monitor everything a developer promises. And exactly the type of neighbors you never want to piss off.

When it was discovered that the developer had actually received variances from the planning department to exceed hillside density codes and cram more homes on the lot, Ivan Hill Terrace went to war. A “Friends of Ivan Hill Terrace” group was created, which then enlisted the help of the Silver Lake Residents Association as well as Councilmen Garcetti and LaBonge. (This all occurred prior to neighborhood councils.) In a highly unusual move, the case wound up before the City Council itself, which voted overwhelmingly to reverse the planning department and rescind the variances.

That should’ve been the end of it, but it wasn’t. The developer resubmitted new plans, complete with all the desired variances, to the planning department — which simply backdated the file. That bureaucratic loophole allowed the newly “grandfathered” plans to trump the more recently passed hillside ordinances — and the City Council’s vote.

Again our street geared up for war, this time hiring an attorney. A local paper caught wind of the brouhaha. (Hmmn. Wonder which writer living on the street tipped them off?) During his interview, the developer took the opportunity to mock the neighborhood. While everyone thought he had the planning department in his back pocket, he laughed, that simply wasn’t the case. Moreover, Garcetti and LaBonge had given the poor, misguided residents a false sense of empowerment. The developer was already savoring his victory.

Indeed, the court ruled in his favor. But the legal wranglings and delays seem to have exacted a heavy toll. By the time the houses were completed (by anothe builder, incidentally) Silverlake’s buying frenzy had cooled. The monstrosities have sat vacant for two years.

What goes around, comes around: I can’t say I’m sorry for the developers. But I am sorry for my former neighbors. Ivan Hill Terrace definitely deserved better.