Zoning study meets jeers from residents

LA CRESCENTA — Whoops, hollers, jeers and applause emanated from the auditorium at Rosemont Middle School Thursday, where impassioned residents voiced concerns about a study that contends that building-out properties zoned for multi-family housing would not adversely affect unincorporated Montrose.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 200 attended a community meeting to hear members of the Los Angeles Department of Regional Planning review the results of a county zoning study. That study found that if all of the lots in unincorporated Montrose zoned as R-3 — multi-family — were built to accommodate multiple families, the increased population would not negatively impact traffic, school enrollment, water and sewers and community character.

Representatives from regional planning also reviewed proposed design standards for development in the area, offering residents the opportunity to weigh in on the standards.

But members of Crescenta Valley Heritage and other concerned residents who had called for down-zoning the lots — which were zoned for multi-family residences in 1913 — to an R-1 classification, or single-family residence, called the study's findings flawed.

A divide between senior citizens with multi-family homes who feared losing their nest egg from their property and families concerned with overcrowding in the area schools seemed to form, Crescenta Valley Town Councilwoman Sharon Rhagavachary said about the meeting Thursday.

Mildred Berry, who's lived in the area for about 50 years and owns two properties zoned for R-3, expressed concern Thursday over losing her property if down-zoning occurred. She told the crowd she also bought her burial plot in the area.

"Next year you'll be asking for my burial plot," she told the crowd.

"Future development of lots zoned for R-3 is expected to be consistent with historic growth rates," according to the study, which would amount to about 18 additional multi-family housing units per year.

The study's findings on the impact multi-family housing would have on the town's schools caused contentious debate.

"I could tell the report was flawed," John Giese, a resident with two children in the area schools, said Thursday. "Be honest, do an honest report," he added.