Markeshia Ricks photo
Andrea Atkinson poked around & discovered a zoning error.
An uproar from neighbors over a controversial landlord’s construction of new apartments led to a public admission of error by a city official — and a new zoning battle on the west side of town.
Neighbors in the Beverly Hills/Amity section of town brought the battle after they noticed work beginning to convert two commercial buildings — one on Westerleigh Road and one at the corner of Westerleigh and Whalley Avenue — into new apartments.
The neighbors are worried that if the work were completed, they’ll find multiple tenants crammed into unkempt buildings and the cars of those tenants and their visitors will obstruct driveways and take up neighborhood parking spaces.
They wondered how the buildings’ new owner, Mandy Management, operating as Netz LLC, obtained permission to build five apartments, with no dedicated parking for tenants, in a space that has been commercial office space since its inception. The two buildings were formerly owned by Ernest and Anna Caccavale, and have for years been mostly vacant office space. The only current tenants are American Institute of Martial Arts and Spooner’s Family Restaurant and Pizza
The decision was the subject of a recent community meeting hosted by Amity/Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow. Neighbors demanded to know why the commercial space at 150 Westerleigh Rd, and 1400 Whalley Ave. could be converted to residential space without a zoning change, and why the city planner can sign off on certain projects with no review and no input from residents. The planner in question, Tom Talbot, attended, apologized for making a mistake, then discussed next steps in the process.
Mandy Management/Netz principal Mandy Edelkopf hung up when contacted for comment for this article.
An Eyesore
Andrea Atkinson said when she heard what sounded like someone tearing down walls in the building next door to her house before 6 a.m. she thought, “What in the world is going on?”
“This is not normal,” she said. “They’re throwing debris, insulation, nails and sheet rock all over the ground.”
It struck Atkinson as odd because of the hour, but also because whoever was tearing up the inside of the building didn’t seem to be taking the proper precautions to protect workers from the hazardous materials they were likely unearthing in the old building, nor were they disposing of the debris properly. “When I said something to the workers, they just laughed,” she said.
Their dismissal of her concerns not only made her mad, it made her curious about what they were doing. So she headed down to City Hall to start pulling building permits, reading up on zoning ordinance and asking questions.
What she discovered incensed her: Not only was Mandy/Netz, whom she said has a reputation for being “slumlords” in certain parts of the city, the new owner, but the city had permitted the company to build apartments without any public input, or any input from the Board of Zoning Appeals, which approves variances. In fact, she learned that an initial application to the BZA had been withdrawn and that the company had been given a building permit to start work through an administrative procedure, which meant it didn’t need to go before the board.
“My question is how many more are out there like this?” she said of administratively approved permits.
City Plan Commission Deputy Director Tom Talbot said by right Netz/Mandy is allowed to build one apartment at 150 Westerleigh Rd. and two apartments at 1400 Whalley Ave. without any zoning changes, or any need for a variance. If Netz/Mandy wants to build more, it needs a variance from the BZA.
After the initial demolition of the inside of the building, Atkinson said she noticed that construction slowed to crawl. Now when she steps out of her front door to head to work, or walk her dog, she sees the old building boarded-up windows. Building permits were recently rescinded because of an error on the city’s part and no work is currently being done at the sites.
“It’s an eyesore,” Atkinson said of the buildings.
Neighbor Rich Queen (on right in photo) predicted that putting apartments on that corner with no dedicated parking spaces will make a bad situation worse. The neighborhood gets more than its share of traffic because of the businesses on the corner that already don’t have any parking. Queen said add three or four bedrooms and that could be two or three cars per apartment.
“If you add in spouses and boyfriends and girlfriends, that could be six cars for every one apartment,” he said. Neighbor Doreen Lee said that adds up to cars parked all over the street, many of which block her driveway, or make it very difficult for her to see the road and back out.
“I Made A Mistake”
When Mandy/Netz applied for a building permit to start transforming the office space into apartments, the landlord asked for an exemption from parking requirements. Because the building never had any parking, Talbot said, based on his reading of regulations, the landlord didn’t need the exemption because it would not be required under the permitted use. But when he reviewed the permit, he discovered that he hadn’t taken into account the density of the proposed use.
If Mandy/Netz LLC wanted to create fewer apartments, for instance, just one at 150 Westerleigh Road and two at 1400 Whalley Ave., then there would be no problem. But Mandy/Netz seeks to put in five apartments, two in one building and three in the other. Creating three or more units requires a variance from the BZA and cannot be handled administratively.
“I’ve been reading that part of the regulation wrong,” said Talbot (pictured at the meeting with City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg). “I had been reading it as more than three, when it is three or more.” He told those that attended the community meeting the same thing.
“I made a mistake,” he said.
Atkinson questioned why Talbot is allowed to make such a big decision without any oversight, or review from anyone. Furlow said he plans to ask for a meeting with Mayor Toni Harp and the teams of Mandy Management and Pike International about the upkeep of their properties in the area. He said he also would like to see more oversight when it comes to administrative authority. A review process, or just someone to have checked the accuracy of what was approved, might have headed off this issue, Furlow said. (Click on the video to watch Mandy Management’s principal meet with upset neighbors in another neighborhood, as reported in this story.)
“This is not to bash anyone,” Furlow said. “We all can and should work together to support city staff, and city staff should work to support the alders. We all have the same goal and that is to make the city a better place.”
Atkinson said in the meantime she and her fellow neighbors are going to continue to look for strategies to make their neighborhood less attractive to Mandy/Netz such as zoned parking on their street. They also plan to press the Board of Alders to put more layers of oversight into when administrative authority can be used, or ask that it be eliminated.
Mandy/Netz has resubmitted its request for a variance that would allow the five apartments and no parking spaces after having its building permits rescinded Nov. 19, and being forced to stop working on the building. The BZA is scheduled to hear the request on its Dec. 9 meeting.