Zoning Administrator to Hear Appeal on Hadid’s 901 Strada Vecchia on June 7
Re-print of BH COURIER ARTICLE by Matt Lopez (link to article below):
A hearing set for June 7 by the Los Angeles Planning Department could go a long way toward determining the fate of celebrity megamansion developer Mohamed Hadid’s 901 Strada Vecchia in Bel Air. The hearing by the Zoning Administrator will be addressing an appeal from a group of residents regarding the issuance of an Erosion Control Plan for the megamansion.
In a filing on behalf of Bel-Air Residents Joe and Beatriz Horacek and John and Judith Bedrosian, the group’s attorney Victor de la Cruz wrote that the residents are appealing an Erosion Control Plan approved by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) “that is nothing more than an illegal scheme aimed at disguising significant amounts of grading that require discretionary entitlements and California Environmental Quality Act review for the entire project.”
The Erosion Control Plan approved by LADBS allowed 2,283 cubic yards of grading, which the lawsuit says brings the total amount of grading at the site to date to 14,200 cubic yards – all without a single valid grading permit having ever been issued to the project. “Approximately 17,000 cubic yards of grading has now taken place at the site without the issuance of a single valid grading permit or required discretionary approval.” De la Cruz writes. A maximum of 6,000 cubic yards of grading are allowed without discretionary entitlements, which makes it puzzling that Hadid was ever allowed additional grading at the site. “Simply put,” writes De la Cruz in the lawsuit. “LADBS erred in allowing Mr. Hadid to subsume grading under an erosion control plan to somehow evade discretionary review.” De la Cruz and the group of Bel-Air residents said they believe that the Erosion Control Plan is simply a way for Hadid to continue work under the nose of inspectors.
The appeal hearing is set for June 7 at 10 a.m. in the West Los Angeles Municipal Building at 1645 Corinth Ave. Los Angeles.
Click here to link to BH COURIER article (pages 1 and 11).