Council denies Pacific Palisades appeal, upholds modified permit for contested hillside grading
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Summary
The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-0 to deny an appeal from the Pacific Palisades Community Council and adopt the PLUM Committee findings that allow the contested hillside grading to proceed with conditions after city geologists re-evaluated stability concerns.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-0 on July 20 to deny an appeal from the Pacific Palisades Community Council and adopt findings from the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee that allow a contested hillside grading and home construction to proceed subject to conditions.
The vote overturned the appellant's challenge to a deputy advisory agency decision that had allowed grading with modified conditions. The appeal argued the project exceeded limits set by the parcel map approval and raised concerns about slope stability and groundwater.
The appellant's representative, Jack Allen, said the developer had submitted plans to create a flat building pad instead of using caissons and had cut and filled far more material than permitted. Allen said the project involved roughly 1,760 cubic yards of fill — “1,700 yards more than he was permitted,” he told the council — and that the city had initially issued a permit that overlooked parcel restrictions.
Pam Schmidt, an attorney representing the property owner, told the council the grading issues had been reviewed repeatedly by city staff and that the PLUM Committee had requested the Department of Building and Safety to reexamine whether the grading and slope were safe. Schmidt asked the council to uphold PLUM’s recommendation to deny the appeal.
A city staff speaker who described meetings between the city geologist and the appellant’s geologist said the city geologist reconfirmed the borings, recalculated the slope stability using conservative assumptions drawn from the appellant’s own analysis, and reinforced the appropriateness of the conditions placed on the project. The staff member urged the council to adopt the PLUM recommendation.
After discussion, the council opened and closed the public hearing on the matter and recorded an 11-0 roll-call vote in favor of denying the appeal and adopting the PLUM findings. The clerk recorded the vote as “11 ayes.”
The council’s action allows the project to proceed under the conditions documented in the planning record; specific permit conditions and any mitigation measures remain those documented in the PLUM findings and the department reports.
