Fight over Montrose banquet hall continues

GLENDALE — The ongoing saga between the city and the owners of a Montrose banquet hall appeared headed back to court Wednesday, a day after the City Council voted to revoke a permit allowing the restaurant to operate with reduced parking.

Derek Tabone, an attorney representing the owners of Montrose Collection Restaurant and Banquet Hall at 2833 Honolulu Ave., said Wednesday that he would immediately appeal the decision to force his clients to either procure an additional 24 parking spaces or cut back operations.

“The city obviously has something against my clients and my clients’ business,” Tabone said.

Restaurant owners Armen and Takui Aivazian have been locked in a battle with the city for two years over whether an expansion of their restaurant four years ago stripped their grand-fathered rights to host banquets.

A 2002 ordinance forbids new or expanded restaurants from using more than 29% of their floor area for banquets, and city officials have argued a 1,000-square-foot expansion in 2005 put Montrose Collection under the new rules.

Following months of noise and traffic complaints from nearby residents, the city brought them to court.

But a criminal jury in 2007 found the Aivazians not guilty of operating an unsanctioned banquet hall, leaving the parking reduction permit as the last remaining point on which city officials could challenge the operation.

But on that issue, the path has been long and involved.

The city’s zoning administrator revoked the parking exception in April 2007 after determining Montrose Collection was operating as a banquet hall illegally. The decision was later upheld by the now-defunct Board of Zoning Appeals.

The Aivazians appealed that decision to the City Council, but they were unable to get a hearing after three council members recused themselves, citing nonfinancial conflicts of interest.

Unable to muster a quorum, the Board of Zoning Appeals decision was left to stand.

That sent the issue to Los Angeles Superior Court, where a judge in January ordered the city to either hear the Aivazian’s appeal, or not enforce the permit revocation.

“Enough is enough,” Robert Thompson, a staunch opponent and close neighbor of the banquet hall, told the council Tuesday. “You’ve heard this all before.”

As in the last hearing, Councilmen Bob Yousefian and Ara Najarian recused themselves prior to the hearing Tuesday, citing personal bias and a past work history, respectively.