The Fight for Fence/Hedge Variances

Sixty-one Palisades residents, including Jack Allen and Gary Boyle, received notices in March that their front-yard fence, wall or hedge was in violation of a 1946 city ordinance specifying that front-yard fences, walls and hedges can be no taller than 42 inches. ‘We had 61 complaints in writing,’ said Frank Bush, the assistant chief of the code enforcement bureau, who said the addresses were from a single source. ‘We do not look for them [violations], we respond to complaints only.’ Most of the addresses were from the upper Alphabet streets and streets south of Sunset Boulevard from Chautauqua over to Temescal Canyon Road. After a city inspection, 18 complaints were dismissed, but the remaining 43 owners were given 30 days to bring their over-sized hedge or structures into compliance or else face a fine of $100. If they do not ultimately comply, ‘the case is forwarded to the City Attorney and ultimately a criminal case could be filed,’ Bush said. The residents could also ask for an extension or apply for a variance that would allow them to keep the offending hedge or structure. Allen, a longtime community activist, contends that his hedge and a retaining wall are in compliance because the wall was originally built in 1926, and ‘The height limit is based on the natural ground level,’ he wrote by e-mail to the Palisadian-Post. ‘The building inspector used the sidewalk level but that is not the natural ground level because Bestor Boulevard was carved out of the hillside, so that the natural ground level is the height of the top of the wall.’   Allen, an attorney and an area representative on the Pacific Palisades Community Council, was given 30 days to comply, or else pay a non-compliance fee (NCF) of $100. Thus far, he said, he has spent more than $800 in non-compliance and appeals fees and is still waiting for his hearing. ‘I heard that instead of a single fine of $100, the Department of Building and Safety was proposing that it be $100 a day for every day that there is non-compliance,’ Allen wrote. Code Enforcement Bureau Assistant Chief Frank Bush told the Post on Friday that the NCF’s increased from $100 to $500 on October 23. ‘Orders issued prior to October 23 will be assessed $100,’ Bush said. ‘The NCF is a one-time assessment fee (per order) and is not compounded daily. There are, however, penalties that will be assessed if residents don’t pay the NCF.’ Boyle, who lives on Haverford Avenue and has a long six-foot high front-yard fence, was shocked when he received the March notice that he was in violation of city ordinance LAMC Section 12.22C.20.(f)(2). According to city planner Tom Rothmann, who is supervisor of code studies, the law was originally passed in order to establish a suburban standard throughout the city.   ’It makes for a safe and walkable neighborhood that appears friendly and pedestrian-oriented,’ said Rothmann, who noted that ‘high fences detract from the eyes-on-the-street character of our neighborhoods.’ ‘This is crazy,’ argued Boyle, a third generation Westsider. ‘The duplex was built in 1949 and there were three owners prior to me’so why now?’ Boyle’s neighbor, who also received a notice to comply, had a handyman cut about three feet off his wood fence. ‘The worker didn’t even measure it, he just took a saw to it,’ said Boyle, who thought his own fence (constructed in 1975), was old enough to be grandfathered in.   Since he lives in a duplex, and doesn’t have a backyard’in essence his front yard is his backyard’Boyle wanted to keep his privacy. He also has a German Shepard that can easily jump a lower fence, and didn’t want to have to chain his dog.   And thus began Boyle’s quest to keep his fence and avoid paying any fine.   He began by visiting a city zoning office in Westchester to have the fence approved, but was told the original code went into effect 53 years ago, which meant his fence was not exempted.   Directed to another city office on Vermont, Boyle paid $35 to get an extension to file for a variance. ‘I wanted to do it the right way,’ he said, recounting his odyssey through the L.A. Department of Building and Safety in the San Fernando Valley.   On his first trip to Van Nuys, Boyle learned that he needed a blueprint of the property and a mailing list of his neighbors. He was also required to print special gummed labels, which he was able to purchase for $35 from another city department.   Back in the Palisades, Boyle visited 17 neighbors and got their signatures. Later he learned that the majority were renters, and he needed the building owners’ names and addresses, which he found on the tax rolls. Armed with everything that had been requested, he returned to the Van Nuys office, only to be told he was still missing papers.   ’It seems like every time I went, they asked for something different,’ said Boyle, who during that trip learned about a private expeditor who, for $1,500, would make sure the paperwork was properly handled. Boyle, who is in the film industry but currently out of work, couldn’t afford it. He made two additional trips to the Valley and two trips to Kinkos for special printing.   On his fourth trip, Boyle was told ‘you have everything right’ and paid his $1,000 non-refundable deposit for a variance (as of August the new fee is $3,488). He was told he would be contacted in three to five months for a hearing.   Three weeks later he received a letter that stated, ‘Your application is insufficient.’ He returned to Van Nuys and the man behind the counter told him that the blueprint that Boyle had carefully and painstakingly drawn, including every detail of the house and yard on a scale of one foot to 1/16 of an inch, was a little off in the back of the lot by the garage.   Completely frustrated, Boyle shouted an expletive at the man behind the desk, who threatened to call security. An elderly lady standing at a window next to Boyle tugged on his arm. He felt ashamed at his language and was sure the woman was going to reprimand him, but instead she said, ‘Excuse me, are you from Pacific Palisades? I am and they want me to cut down my 40-year-old oleander bushes.’   Boyle was told to go across the hall, pay $5 for a plot plan, make a copy and bring it back to the administrator, which he did. He was once again told he would be notified of the hearing. He wasn’t notified, only learning about his hearing from his neighbors who did receive notification.   On October 8, Boyle pled his case before Lourdes Green, associate zoning administrator at the City’s building on Corinth Avenue in West L.A.   After looking through Boyle’s file and hearing his story, Green verbally approved a variance because of the multi-storied apartments across the street, a wide shared driveway on one side of his property and no driveway on the other.   If none of Boyle’s neighbors raise further objections, he will keep the six-foot fence and receive a covenant allowing whoever buys his property the same right.   Boyle is happy that he won, but is still upset by his seven-month ordeal. ‘I remember years ago when they [the City] didn’t honor tattletales,’ he said, referring to the anonymous person who set off the whole chain of events.