Neighbors Throw Monkey Wrench Into Rolls Agency’s Path

Inhabitants of most neighborhoods filled with Rolls-Royces live in serene affluence.

Not so in Encino, where hot-rodding Rolls-Royces have left residents of one neighborhood seething with anger.

Homeowners upset over lead-footed mechanics who test-drive Rolls-Royces and Jaguars in front of their houses persuaded a Los Angeles city hearing officer Friday to reject a remodeling and expansion project for a British motorcar dealership.

Instead, auto dealer Terry York was instructed to let homeowners help him redesign his plans and come up with ways for him to become a better neighbor.

That will apparently mean silencing burglar alarms that have irritated homeowners by blaring next to Densmore Avenue for up to 13 hours at a stretch and camouflaging lights from garage service bays and parking lots that shine into bedroom windows.

“Let’s not be disillusioned by the fact we’re dealing with Rollses and Jags,” said homeowner Bennett Mintz. “They’re cars. They’re noisy. Their exhaust stinks.”

And the mechanics who test-drive them after tuning their finely crafted British engines clog the streets and sometimes nearly run residents off the road, angry homeowners complained during a 3 1/2-hour city zoning hearing in Van Nuys.

Officials were considering York’s request for a zoning variance that would have allowed him to build a four-level garage on his 2-acre car lot at Densmore and Ventura Boulevard.

Special city permission is needed because the proposed garage would violate a 1986 ordinance prohibiting commercial buildings higher than 25 feet next to residential areas. York’s garage, featuring rooftop parking, would measure 33 feet.

“The present facility is too old. It’s outdated,” York told Jon Perica, associate zoning administrator. “The facility is not clean. . . . quite frankly, Encino deserves more.”

So do his British suppliers, he said.

“Jaguar is not happy with the appearance of the facility,” York acknowledged. “Jaguar wants an updated facility.”

Homeowners told Perica and York that they are unhappy about the prospect of more service bays in the new garage that would funnel more luxury cars into their neighborhood for test drives.

“I’ve called your agency about the car testing,” said Densmore resident Marsha Zusman. “I was almost hit once. They start up slow and then gas it. The dealership said it’s not their problem once the car leaves the lot.”

Neighbor James C. Kissman said burglar alarms on cars left for service and at the dealership rattle the area day and night. Once an alarm bell rang continuously from 8:45 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday, Kissman said.

Homeowner Jim Esterle said delivery trucks often block Densmore, which he said serves about 1,000 Encino hillside homes.

Other residents charged that York has violated terms of a 1979 city agreement that gave him the use of a parking lot in a residential zone behind his dealership. That conditional-use permit required special fencing and landscaping around the lot and removal of outdoor loudspeakers that page car salesmen--things that have not been done, they said.

Perica took note of the allegations, pointedly warning York that the city has the power to revoke the permit and close the parking lot.

He said he would wait two months before writing a formal rejection of York’s construction plan to give the car dealer time to meet with homeowners “to look for solutions” to the rift.

York and the homeowners said they will do just that. “Whatever happens, it’s been useful. We want to be good neighbors,” York said.

Shrugged Perica: “It’s a sad comment that it took a meeting like this to get everybody together.”