According to some residents of Laurel Canyon, the only two homes on Bulwer Drive have been a nuisance and eyesore for more than 20 years, providing a hub for drug use, partying and prostitution.
According to some neighbors, these two homes on Bulwer Drive have been a nuisance for more than 20 years. (photo by Fred Karger)
Now, after purchasing the properties, a developer is looking to improve Bulwer Drive, a project that some residents believe will enable the developer to build additional homes without creating an environmental impact report (EIR). The developer owns 12 parcels on the street.
Bulwer Drive LLC is seeking a permit for the improvements, which include paving, drainage system improvements and building a cut-off trench, among other things. A hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday at the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, neighbor Fred Karger said.
“That’s why the city likes it — it’s a free road,” he said. “But at what cost?”
According to the city’s Department of Public Works, building permits were issued for three homes on Bulwer Drive in 1986, but construction was halted due to funding problems shortly after the approvals. In 1990, one of the unfinished homes burned to the ground.
In 2002, Bulwer Drive LLC purchased the properties, and the city determined that the permits were still valid for the two remaining, unfinished homes. However, the developer had to make various improvements, such as building a paved roadway and constructing sewer main lines and storm drains that connected to Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
Construction was completed in 2009. That year, Bulwer Drive LLC sought permitting for a hillside street with a 20-foot roadway from 8037 Bulwer Drive to Woodstock Road. The owner, though, opted not to proceed with the improvements.
According to the department, the road began to experience problems, as heavy rains have led to erosion and a water main break created mud deposits in the roadway. For the most part, repairs were made at city expense.
Because of the issues with the street, the owner notified the city’s Bureau of Engineering to request a permit for improvements, stating that the conditions of the road were preventing the owner from maintaining tenants or selling the homes.
On Sept. 12, the company sought new permits for street improvements. This time, the developer is not looking to widen the road; rather, the company wants to pave the existing dirt road.
Karger said he believes the company is looking to get around creating an EIR. Though the project cannot be appealed to the Los Angeles City Council, Councilman Tom LaBonge, 4th District, is lobbying for the company to complete the report.
“We support the neighbors and not getting the road improved at this time, unless an EIR is done,” said Renee Weitzer, LaBonge’s chief of land use planning, south.
She said the developer of the original homes was supposed to honor certain requirements as part of the issuing of the certificate of occupancy, and some elements of the approval, such as connecting to sewer lines, were never done.
Furthermore, the homes have been a nuisance, Weitzer said. She said one was rented to a tenant who turned it into a party house, which led the tenant in the neighboring home to leave.
“It was a mess. Since then, they’ve been trying to sell the homes,” Weitzer said.
She said the proposal started small and has blossomed into a much larger project. Weitzer said the developers have painted the project as a “temporary improvement.”
“Actually, it’s more than a temporary improvement,” she said, adding that there are concerns that heavy equipment could push debris down the hillside. If something were to fall, Laurel Canyon Boulevard would be closed, Weitzer said. “So, it’s in a very precarious site.”
She said it is common for an EIR to be required on such a road. Weitzer listed two former planning department employees who have called for an environmental report to be done on site.
An attorney representing the developer, Benjamin Reznik, declined to comment, stating that he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
1 Comment
these houses make it dangerous for anyone who commute back and forth from Hollywood to Studio City on Laurel Canyon. They attract drug addicts and criminals when they are empty. When they are rented out I found that they parked at least 15 extra cars up and down the road making it A serious potential fire hazzard. the only improvement that could be done is to disassemble these two houses on Bulwer way. we should know by now that this is part of the green belt in the Santa Monica Mountains, for the little amount of wildlife we have left from all the encroachments like this on the very few roads we have left in the Hollywood Hills. not to mention that they are like a blot on mullholand scenic corridors face. these houses never should have been allowed to be put up in the first place. It should be against the law because it jeopardizes and puts people’s life at risk by hanging off of a dirt road that can not support the weight of these Goliath sized buildings it is only a matter of time until something horrible happens that could have been prevented. anybody with common sense can see it is time for them to be decommissioned and zoneda non building area and considered a animal conservation zone for the for the wildlife in the Hollywood Hills. Enough is enough, for the people in the neighborhood of area #9 and the Mulholland corridor scenic foundation and for the animals that travel through one of the last greenbelts we have left. The long and short of it is that these properties must be demolished!!!!!¡! Anything else would be a terrible mistake and I am sure whoever decides on this factor. If they choose to help these houses out, will feel horrible in the future when some horrible catastrophe happens from the neglect of common sense. I asked you to please use your best judgement and look inside your heart on this matter. For it is of the utmost importance and will set the standard for the future of our beautiful canyon and the entrance to Hollywood from Studio City or Mulholland Boulevard coming from the East or West , North or South this decision will affect everybody in the Hollywood Hills and everyone who lives on either side of them north or south. So I plead with you please use your best judgement and save us from a future with no more animals being able to travel back and forth and landslides do too unstable hillsides with giant buildings on them. It just makes common sense to get rid of the problem that we’ve had from the first place with these two ugly monstrosities that have already hurt are beautiful canyon.