Some residents have complained that the additional review hampers “green” development and is an unfair burden.
The Planning Commission, at the behest of the council, will review the implications of creating possible exemptions for solar structures, although most council members said they would favor some sort of discretionary review process.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Planning Commission will review possible draft ordinances to implement the changes and then issue a recommendation on how to proceed to the City Council.
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BANQUET HALL PARKING
The same three-member panel of the City Council voted Tuesday to finalize the revocation of a parking reduction permit for a controversial Montrose banquet hall.
The attorney representing Montrose Collection Restaurant and Banquet Hall on Honolulu Avenue has said he would immediately appeal the decision in Los Angeles Superior Court.
After Councilmen Bob Yousefian and Ara Najarian recused themselves, citing nonfinancial conflict of interests, the remaining three voted along the same lines as they did two weeks ago to revoke a permit allowing the restaurant to operate with fewer parking spaces.
Mayor John Drayman and Councilman Dave Weaver voted to uphold the revocation, with Councilman Frank Quintero abstaining.
The city attorney is scheduled to come back Tuesday to finalize the ruling.
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.
A Superior Court judge in January ordered the city to either hear the Aivazian’s appeal, or not enforce the permit revocation.
WHAT IT MEANS
The ultimate outcome of the Montrose Collection case will likely be decided in Superior Court, with Weaver warning the public last night that the council’s vote would not be “the end of this matter.”
