Tim Willert
GLENDALE CITY HALL -- Nearly 11 hours after sitting down to decide the
fate of Oakmont View V, the City Council voted unanimously early
Wednesday to deny the proposed hillside subdivision. The move set the
stage for yet another court challenge by project developers.
"There were just too many negative impacts on the hillside and the
environment," Mayor Gus Gomez said in an interview Wednesday. "I think it
was the right decision and I don't have any regrets about it."
His sleep-deprived colleagues agreed.
"I believe it was the right decision, considering the unavoidable
significant impacts that the project would have on the community,"
Councilman Rafi Manoukian said Wednesday.
The council also voted unanimously to certify the project's
environmental impact report, which a judge ordered the city to do by
March 15.
"If this EIR is not adequate, I don't know of any other EIR that could
be adequate," Councilman Bob Yousefian said Wednesday. "I have never seen
anything as extensive as this EIR."
While opponents basked in the glow of victory Wednesday, Oakmont
developers John and Lee Gregg charted a new course of legal action.
Reached at home Wednesday afternoon, Lee Gregg referred calls to
spokesman Alan Brandstater. Brandstater released a statement Wednesday
stating the Greggs intend to return to court.
"Now, all bets are off," the statement read. "We're headed back to
court -- soon and in a big way."
The marathon special meeting started at 6 p.m. Tuesday and didn't
adjourn until 4:40 a.m. The council waded through testimony from more
than 100 speakers before voting on the project.
An estimated 450 people packed council chambers, the first floor of
City Hall and the Glendale Civic Auditorium, where speakers addressed the
council via a television link.
"There was a real variety of opinions and views expressed," Gomez
said. "You could see that there was a balance of opposition and support."
Some, like Jack Alston and his wife, Glendale Homeowners Coordinating
Council President Carole Sussman, stayed until the bitter end. Alston, a
founding member of the antiOakmont View V group Glendale-Crescenta
Volunteers Organized in Conserving the Environment, said the vote
validated years of hard work.
"There was this kind of exhilaration that everybody felt," Alston said
Wednesday. "It's 10 minutes of 5, the vote goes down and suddenly there
was this infusion of energy."
Gomez said the threat of further litigation didn't factor into his
vote.
"I needed to make a decision based on the evidence and the testimony
that was presented, and from there let the chips fall where they may," he
said.
