RESIDENTS OPPOSE PROPOSAL FOR MOTEL; DESIGN DECISION COULD SCUTTLE PROJECT.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Live Oak residents have engineered a protest to kill plans for a budget motel in their neighborhood, saying they fear visitors to the nearby Pitchess Detention Center will stay and cause problems.

``They can put it somewhere else - maybe Valencia, which they won't do,'' said Jonna Dobies, a local resident. ``We already have a prison. We'd rather not have a motel, period. And with an inexpensive motel, people visiting prisoners can stay there.''

Dobies' young daughters walked door to door generating support for the battle, and other residents orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to convince Los Angeles County planners to halt the project.

The residents might get some good news, but not because of their arguments.

The motel, planned at The Old Road and Live Oak Road, has failed to comply with a request by the county Regional Planning Department to place the main entrance on The Old Road. An entrance on that side would require the company to build a bridge over a storm drain, which would be expensive, said Paul McCarthy, assistant section head in the county zoning division.

Instead, the company wants the entrance on Live Oak Road, which goes through the residential area. McCarthy said the company has been notified that if the entrance is not changed, planning officials will recommend that the request for a special-use permit be denied.

Motel 6 representatives did not return phone calls Tuesday.

``All to the west of Live Oak is single-family traditional homes. Access from Live Oak brings traffic to the residential side,'' McCarthy said. ``They're refusing to consider access from The Old Road. We'll recommend denial, and we've written a letter telling them that.''

Dobies said the only comfort she can take from that is the possibility that the project will die. Though she agrees that access off Live Oak Road would be worse, she does not want a motel in her neighborhood.

``We already have problems. They buy alcohol at the mini-mart nearby and they cruise our streets,'' Dobies said. ``We get crime or just disruptions. A motel is just going to cause more problems.''

Dobies and other residents are particularly concerned that the motel would be about a quarter-mile from Live Oak Elementary School. The school is equipped with a siren that sounds whenever an inmate escapes from Pitchess.

``They've found a couple of (inmates) hiding under covers of boats or covers of cars'' in the neighborhood, Dobies said.

The county has received hundreds of complaints from residents, which is surprising because no notice has been given about the application, McCarthy said. The project was mentioned in a school newsletter to parents.

Public notification to residents will be distributed if the project progresses to the Regional Planning Commission for a public hearing, he said.

The project requires a special use permit because of a county policy created specifically for inns, McCarthy said. The site is zoned for commercial use, however, he said.

``A strip mall wouldn't have the same effect,'' McCarthy said. ``A motel is different from a doctor's office. They don't stay open 24 hours a day.''

Motel 6 representatives still are considering options regarding the project, McCarthy said. Company officials could decide against the project once they study the location and expense of building a bridge, he said.

``Maybe it doesn't meet with Motel 6 criteria,'' McCarthy said.

If motel representatives decide to withdraw the application, 70 percent of the county fees will be returned, McCarthy said.

And that would suit Dobies and other residents just fine.

``We work very hard for what we have,'' she said. ``If I didn't want a safe community, I'd move to Los Angeles. This was supposed to be an upscale neighborhood.''