Mt. Royal Hilltop Developer Agrees to Modify 8-House Project in Face of Community Criticism

A Studio City-based developer who wants to build a gated community of eight houses on a 1.59-acre hilltop near the 134 freeway agreed Thursday night to revise his plan in light of scathing criticism from residents and return to Eagle Rock next month for another round of discussions.

The developer, Stan Fargeon, appeared before the Land Use Committee of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council at Eagle Rock City Hall, where a string of speakers confronted him for three quarters of an hour.

In a room overflowing with people, the speakers, all Eagle Rock residents, demanded to know why it was necessary to build as many as eight homes in a hilly area that is connected to the rest of the community by a narrow, winding road and serves as a wildlife corridor for animals such as deer, coyotes and raccoons.

Fargeon explained that the property on 5370 and 5382 North Mt. Royal Dr. will include eight three-story detached houses of roughly 2,500 square feet to 3,500 square feet each. The proposed development is dependent on the discretionary approval of the Los Angeles Department of Planning because it cannot go through without as many as three zoning adjustments and several variances, including that of the city’s hillside ordinance.

“I’m not here to tell you that this is the greatest design project and that neighborhood values are going to go up 50 percent,” Fargeon told the packed room. “This is not the story. The story is that on a long-term basis, there’ll be virtually no downside for all of you, and time will tell how much of an upside there will be, based on what we’ve done.”

The developer conceded that eight homes in a gated area might be out of character in the neighborhood. But “unless you’re in a helicopter, no one will be able to see the project,” he said, failing to ease the emotionally charged atmosphere in the Arthur K. Snyder Community Room.

Several of the speakers condemned the project as downright ugly, prompting a somewhat diplomatic but essentially tough response from Fargeon.

“We don’t come into a neighborhood to irritate everybody—that’s the last thing we need, he said. “We come into a neighborhood because obviously we feel there’s a demand, that we’re going to be able to sell our houses.”

Fargeon initially proposed building nine houses on the site, which lies at the end of a cul-de-sac on Mt. Royal Drive. The initial project proposal is currently before the Department of Planning, the developer said, adding that he would be submitting a fresh proposal based on community input after he returns to the next meeting of the ERNC Land Use Committee on May 16.

As many as 21 speakers took Fargeon to task. Here, for the record, are excerpts of what they said in chronological order:

Janiss Garza:

We live over on Mt. Royal—right on that street, and I’m concerned about the traffic. Eight properties is a lot. What about when these people have parties and stuff. It’s going to be ridiculous on our street.

Daniel House:

I have lived on Hill Drive for nine years. I don’t think this reflects what our neighborhood is about.

Kelly Deco:

This is a wildlife corridor and they’re going to build in this section here and drive the deer up into the freeway. I built a new home in this area, I built one. I don’t know why you’re building eight. That just shows you’re coming in to siphon the life out of our community. It’s a bunch of jammed up apartments all piled together. It’s not going add any value to our area. This is one of the finest real estate in all of Los Angeles. And by the way, you sent this out two days ago to everybody. That was really nice—sneak it up on us.

Phil Barbaro:

I live on Mt. Royal Drive. This project is in the Northeast Area Planned District. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the past 10 years helping write that plan, which states that plenty of open space is a high priority among residents. The project is way out of scale with what we have here. One of the objectives of the plan is to limit the intensity and density of development in hillside areas.

Pat Viera:

I have lived on Mt. Royal and Las Flores for nearly 12 years with my partner and two children who grew up there. We are very concerned about this project. Our hillsides are going to be raped. The trees are going to be destroyed and the land and the soil and wildlife is going to disappear. One of the main concerns we have is that if this is approved it’s going to open the floodgates for other developers to come in here and start putting these crackerjack box homes together. It’s really not what we are about in our little town. It’s going to change everything for us. We don’t want to be another Glendale. We don’t want to have that kind of density and choking traffic.

Paul Racs:

I live on Townsend Avenue. One of the reasons a lot of us have moved to Eagle Rock is that we feel we’re part of a community that has these hills nestled against us. All we have to do is take the 2 freeway a couple of miles up and see the damage to the hills done in Glendale.

Steve Baxter:

I have lived on Mt. Royal above Hill for more than 20 years. Will having a development up there change the status of our street in terms of the Fire department? Will the Fire department be able to go all the way up the street? Will we become a red flag street? I haven’t heard anything from the Fire department about that.

Cristi Lyon:

I live on Mt. Royal . If you are requesting so many variances then you aren’t coming in with respect for the neighborhood and what the neighborhood is about. And I find it very offensive that you’re pushing this as a gated neighborhood. That is not what Eagle Rock is about.

Robin Fleck:

I live on Vincent below and we moved to Eagle Rock from Silver Lake, which is crowded and crammed together, and we weren’t getting the hillsides. The joy of this community is that it’s quiet, peaceful—it’s still got some nature going on. And this [housing project] is going to come in and going to wipe that whole hillside out.

Alex Carver:

I live on Hill and Vincent and I moved down here from San Francisco, which is really crowded. And I look at that [housing project] and I think, Daly City—tacky houses that look all alike. I’m against any variances and the density of this project as well.

Eunice Howe:

I live on Mt. Royal—on that block. I’m worried about traffic and safety. We have a very narrow street that’s already very dangerous. We’ve actually had a car go over our front lawn. To me, this is insane.

Sandy Keith:

My dad lives at the very end of Mt. Royal and I grew up there. It’s probably the single house that will be most affected by the project. There’s a reason why that lot has been empty for years—because it is not suitable for housing. It is especially not suitable for eight houses. I have a huge fear of the slippery slope—the way this is changing the neighborhood. We don’t need any new development in the few spaces of land that we have. There are deer there, the coyotes are there—there’s not a lot of that left. It [the project] will change the whole character of Eagle Rock.

Richard Rasion:

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for about 30 some years and I’ve seen a lot of changes. This area here was made for single family dwellings. It [the project] will bring trouble—there’s no doubt about it. This is the beginning—there will be more.

Marilyn Ader:

I live on Mt. Royal. There’s no question that section of Mt. Royal north of Hill is extremely narrow and curved and short. Parking is quite difficult. I am also concerned about runoff from flooding—it’s a very steep hill. We will be losing topsoil as the trees are cleared off. In addition, I’m very concerned about noise from the eight houses, 16 cars, plus the guests and traffic.

Ben Manibog:

I grew up in Silver Lake but have lived in Eagle Rock for 14 years. We own a home near Mt. Royal and Hill Drive. I’m not opposed to modern homes.

Melvin Simmons:

I’ve lived on Vincent for 50 years. If one of those [construction] trucks goes into my yard, there’s going to be a good lawsuit.

Kathleen Aberman (Past president of TERA):

On upper Dahlia Drive developers built a street and made these horrible, big houses. They graded, leveled the area. When you take the 134 freeway east, you see denuded hillsides a block or two from [Mt. Royal]. We don’t have much faith with what Eagle Rock has gone through with developers over the last 40 years.

Nicole Lewis:

I live on Mt. Royal and Las Flores. I am in real estate and have some empathy for developers—and I am absolutely appalled. I feel this is so disrespectful. It does not take into consideration the neighborhood. I am adamantly opposed.

Jack Tunzi:

I live on Vincent Avenue. I’ve lived in Eagle Rock my whole life. We’ve played in those hills, hiked in those hills. When I heard about this two days ago, I had an open mind about it, a little bit, until I saw the word "exemption" and the word "variance." That sent up red flags.

Leslie Tunzi:

I’m worried about the wildlife and the trees, and I oppose it.

S. G. Gillis:

I live on 2371 Mt. Royal Drive. You can’t use big trucks on those small turns, so you’ll have to use trucks that carry small loads. It’s going to take months and months.

Related: Proposed Development of 8 Houses on Hill on Mt. Royal Drive Stirs Neighbors’ Concerns