BUFFER ZONES TO BE MULLED CHANGES ARE AIMED AT SAVING CHARACTER OF NEIGHBORHOODS.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

GLENDALE- In an effort to maintain the charm of residential neighborhoods, the City Council is considering new limits and buffer zones on apartment complexes and condominiums that tower over single-family homes.

In two weeks, the council will consider adopting changes to zoning standards that would require a multifamily development adjacent to a house to be limited to two stories and be set back 15 feet from the property line to create a softer transition between the two buildings.

``People have been complaining that some of the new developments have been too large for the neighborhoods in which they are built and are incompatible with surrounding buildings,'' said Hassan Haghani, planning administrator.

Affected neighborhoods include the affluent Rossmoyne neighborhood and sections of Montrose and north Glendale.

``They're concerned that their quaint neighborhoods are being marred by incoming developments that don't fit in and that the additional density might be bringing other impacts.''

The proposed changes would allow the city to immediately address incompatible developments that are in the pipeline until the proposed citywide zoning changes have been adopted Aug. 5.

``This would put at least some protection in place,'' Haghani said.

Project developers who have completed the entitlement process will not be affected, but those who have just applied would be subject to the changes if the council adopts the ordinance.

Although staff members maintain the city's housing stock will not be widely affected, the council has asked for the number of units that would be eliminated by a change in standards.

The city is required by the state to provide housing units consistent with regional population projections.

Councilman Bob Yousefian said he supports the proposed zoning changes but worries that developers may find properties less desirable if the developable space is reduced by the presence of single-family homes.

``You'll have this odd-ball sitting in the middle of it and nobody's going to touch it,'' Yousefian said.

Alen Malekian, who has designed a four-unit town house complex at 408 E. Cameron Street, recently received design review board approval for the project's plans, but is still concerned that a change in the ordinance could affect the development.

The lot for his project has an irregular property line that creates a narrower space at the end of the lot, which would kill the project under the proposed standards.

``If this zoning standard changes, essentially, this property will become nonbuildable,'' Malekian said. ``You'll be better off leaving it the way it is.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(ran in Glen/Bur edition only) An apartment house at Jackson and Dryden streets will have three stories, towering over the home next door. A proposal by the city would not allow such a disparity in height.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer