Red Car Property Lot C: More Uncovered Truckloads Of Dirt, Bulldozer Delivery

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  At 7 AM yesterday, more uncovered truckloads of dirt began arriving for the Riverside Drive construction site, using the Red Car Property north of India Street.  

The motorhome, parked on the Red Car Property with someone living in it, has become a permanent feature of the site since October.

The Red Car Property is not a park, nor is it a city street right of way.  Silver Lake Court is west of the Red Car Property.  This is Lot C north of India Street.  

More than a year ago the architect for the adjacent Riverside Drive 13-unit development told me they would not be using the Red Car Property for deliveries, hauling nor storage of vehicles or equipment or for access to their site. 

They fail to make any attempt to control fugitive dust while driving on the Red Car Property.  That shouldn't be surprising since they also make no attempt at covering the dirt in the truck beds as required by state and city codes.  No haul route was established for the site. The route to this part of the Red Car Property involves hairpin turns on Substandard Hillside Streets that go past the driveways for Allesandro Elementary School. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 22, 2017.  A mini bulldozer arrived early Friday morning too.

Red Car Property, Lot C: Choking On Dirt From Riverside Drive Construction

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017.  Dump trucks hauled loads of dirt to and from the Riverside Drive construction site using the dirt roadway of Red Car Property north of India Street today.  The fugitive dust is out of control.  A neighbor reports at least six truck trips before 11 AM today.  They are not supposed to be using the Red Car Property for access, hauling or storing of equipment.  They've been doing all three.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 21, 2017. They are not keeping the dirt roadway sufficiently dampened to control fugitive dust.  In fact, they are not wetting the dirt road at all. They are not covering the truck loads of dirt, nor did they give notice to neighbors for hauling activity.  All of these things are boilerplate requirements by Building & Safety under the Los Angeles Municipal Code.  But then so is having a phone number posted on the construction fence.  It's not posted up here where people live.

Photo: December 21, 2017.  The motorhome (on the other side of the dump truck) has been parked behind the locked fence across the Red Car Property since October.  

The developer has an agreement with the Red Car Property owner to fence off a portion of the Red Car Property during construction of Riverside Drive lots.  The Riverside Drive development supposedly does not include the Red Car Property.

Since the motorhome arrived in October, neighbors report increased vehicle traffic at all hours, to and from the construction site.  The guy who lives in the motorhome uses a car to drive to and from his motorhome, as do his friends.  

According to neighbors, since the motorhome arrived, there's also been an increase of suspicious activity and dumping, north from India Street, on the Red Car Property.  There are also people living in sheds on a historically problematic, Red Car Property adjacent, Riverside Drive property.  

Motorhome usually parked on Allesandro, now behind locked gate above Riverside Dr construction site on Red Car Property @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/HW9uMdLxiV

— Corralitas (@RedCarProperty) October 15, 2017

The Red Car Property is a lawless place.

Corralitas Drive: Construction Hours Until 9PM Monday Through Friday?!

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, November 21, 2017.  Construction notice is posted at 2608-2610 Corralitas Drive.  Two single family homes are approved for the site situated on a blind hairpin curve adjacent to the Corralitas Public Staircase.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Why does the City allow construction activity in a hillside neighborhood with substandard Hillside streets until 9PM?  

The likely answer is to allow extra time for DIY homeowners who don't have time during weekdays to work on their own homes.  But that is a completely different situation than new home construction or permit-triggering renovations.  

Most construction sites don't work past 6 PM on Corralitas Drive, but why is it even allowed?  Considering parking, limited access and heavy evening traffic on residential Hillside streets in any zone, this is absurd.  Multi-family zoned Hillside streets are even more congested and have bigger parking problems than R1 Hillside neighborhoods.  

If it falls within the Hillside Area, no matter the zone, construction should only be allowed until 6 or 7 PM, M-F.  It doesn't even benefit developers if they have to stop work, move trucks, fences and equipment every time people try to drive up the hill.  

Why is construction allowed on all national holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day?!  Neighbors of this site report the developer will be drilling holes with heavy equipment on Thanksgiving.  No grading, hauling, deliveries or heavy equipment use, associated with construction permits, should be allowed on residential Hillside streets on Saturdays or national holidays. This should include any site where vehicle access is via residential Hillside streets.

Corralitas Drive has suffered through construction of 11 lots in the past 27 years, this is now the 12th.  Yet another duplex has been proposed for another lot on the street.  The fastest site took 18 months to build by developers who knew what they were doing in Hillside.  The longest was 5 years.  Corralitas Drive is not a through street and does not have regulation sized cul-de-sacs.  Weekend construction with heavy equipment and deliveries is not worthwhile.

You can file complaints about violations like failure to adequately control fugitive dust, equipment stored in the street or on sidewalks, blocking the street and public staircases, dangerous conditions, damage to adjacent property on Building & Safety's (LADBS) website. 

Neighbors should save the phone number of Parking Enforcement (LADOT) to their phone: (818) 374-4823 

Red Car Property: Land Grab? BS? Fence Supposed To Prevent Dumping And Protect New Planting

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 18, 2016.  When grading for the Riverside Drive project between Gilroy and Clearwater went over the property line, endangering native trees, it was bad enough, but then the developer made a land grab with a fence across the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, September 18, 2016. The bulldozer took out two  concrete post property line markers that marked the rear property line of the Riverside Drive lots as they met the Red Car Property.  The posts had been in place for over 100 years and are still in place in parts of the not only this neighborhood, but wherever the Red Car Trolleys ran in Southern California.  Railroads nationwide, marked their property with the steel reinforced concrete posts.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, September 23, 2016.  But as soon as the fence went across the flat part of the Red Car Property, leaving only a narrow weed strewn path to walk or ride your bike on, neighbors and other Red Car Property users freaked out.  We sent photos to the property owner's rep who said they had met with the property owner last week and a fence would be coming, but he did not say it was going to be one that appeared to take a 70' wide portion of the property. We pointed out the lack of fire and emergency vehicle access was indeed a problem particularly since the upslope portion adjacent to homes on Adelbert Ave still had not been cleared of brush.  The next day, brush clearance was done.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016. The fence seemed more designed to illicit a buzz, get free PR for a rather gentrifying project on Riverside Drive, between Gilroy and Clearwater.  And yes, I say this after speaking to the architect for the Riverside Drive lots.  He told me the fence was intended to prevent dumping and protect the trees they're going to plant BEFORE they start grading.  Right.  Before. 

We'll revisit the fence tomorrow.

Red Car Property: Fence Across Trail, Neighbors Grab Photos When It Looks Like A Land Grab*

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, September 22, 2016.  Almost simultaneously, I received photos from several neighbors of the north end of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Hearing loud construction noise too close to home, neighbors immediately grabbed their phones and took photos.  They discovered a chain link fence being put up across the Red Car Property.  It appeared as if the owner of the downslope Riverside Drive lots, currently being graded for construction, were taking the Red Car Property in a land grab.

Photo: Red Car Neighbor #2, September 22, 2016.  Since workers were removing the fence at the the top of the slope, which was an earlier attempted taking by a previous landowner of the Riverside Drive lots, this seemed like a really big land grab.  Quite a few emails landedcame in asking if there was a deal with the Red Car Property to develop the Red Car Property. Good question.

Photo: Red Car Neighbor #2, September 22, 2016.  It's so much easier when I get photos from multiple neighbors, to put together the big picture since we all have different perspectives on the property. The developer appears to have left us a path on the upslope side of the fence

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016.  The fence arrived on a big flat bed truck.  

It still looks like they're either making a big land grab or planning on using the Red Car Property for staging and construction of the Red Car Property.  Either option is not acceptable and we've made inquiries.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3, September 22, 2016.  By midday, the fence was complete and locked with a chain.  There was a narrow walkway adjacent to the fence. The fence blocked the flat part of the lot.  The fence does not extend further upslope.  They appear to have taken way more than the 20-30 feet of slope many downslope neighbors have taken elsewhere on the Red Car Property. It looks a little more like 70 feet back from the rear property line of the Riverside Drive lots.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #3.  Neighbors are understandably nervous, since the upslope portion of the Red Car Property still was not cleared of brush.  Many watched on TV and on line as the LAFD battle a 6 acre fire in Elysian Park the same afternoon.  

The gate is not the type of fire gate LAFD generally approves on fire roads in Hillside Areas.  (Think of every heavy steel gate you see across entrances to trails/fire roads in Griffith Park and Elysian Park.)

We've made inquiries with CD13, the Red Car Property owner's rep and the developer of the Riverside Drive lots. We'll be posting updates here on the blog.  

*This post was actually published 9-26-16, and backdated because I don't get paid to do this and other commitments have limited my time. Due to the rapidly changing landscape of the Red Car Property Neighborhood, I'm backdating posts with photos when there is significant reason to match the date of the news and photos for future reference.  There will always be a disclaimer like this on backdated posts.  I apologize for any confusion this causes our daily readers.  No, we are not on Facebook.  Photos and alerts get published quickly on our Twitter feed: @RedCarProperty

Red Car Property: Becoming Less Park-Like Every Day

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  The developer of 13 lots on Riverside Drive left not only a denuded hillside, grading and further taking out trees on the downslope side of the Red Car Property, but also deposited a giant tree stump pulled out of the ground and left on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Earlier in the day, neighbors sounded the alarm when the backhoe was digging right up against the protected Coast Live Oak Tree's trunk.  The Red Car Property line is 20 - 30 feet downslope from the flat part of the Red Car Property.  Clearly,  the Riverside Drive developer moved earth around, well beyond the rear property of the Riverside Drive lots.  

By the end of the day Saturday, concrete posts (reinforced with rebar) that marked the property lines since the dawn of the Big Red Car Trolleys (1905) had disappeared.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Looking in the opposite direction from the oak tree, things are even more bleak.  We'll take a closer look at those trees in coming days.   Here too, the property line is 20 to 30 feet downslope. But the slope has been changed significantly so who knows where the line is anymore.

Riverside Drive: Neighbors Question Grading Project As It Crosses Onto Red Car Property

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 17, 2016.  Saturday morning, neighbors let me know the developer of the Riverside Drive lots (between Gilroy and Clearwater) was moving earth perilously close to the Protected Coast Live Oak Tree. The Coast Live Oak is on the Red Car Property. Checking the Building & Safety website, I saw no grading permits issued for either of the two adjacent Red Car Property lots.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property line is about 20 to 30 feet downslope from the flat part of the Red Car Property as well as the oak tree.  In the photo above, the backhoe is working on the edge of the flat part. So the Riverside Drive developer was definitely moving earth around the Red Car Property.

The ancient concrete post property line markers, in place since at least the dawn of the Big Red Car Trolleys, marked the rear property line of the Riverside Drive Lots where they back into the Red Car Property. They're about 3' tall and 4" square.  Whenever these lots have been surveyed, the new property line markers line up with the concrete property marker posts.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, August 27, 2016.  Last month, neighbors were alarmed when a developer began clear cutting trees on 13 vacant lots on Riverside Drive adjacent to the Red Car Property.  

The most consistent comment I'm hearing from neighbors about the Riverside Drive/Gilroy development is, "How is it possible they didn't need approval from the City [Planning] for this?"  I'd like to know that too.  It appears that by submitting applications for building permits for each of 8 lots separately, they seem to have snuck in under the radar for hillside grading and retaining walls.  (There seems to be a question of lot ties and parcel map cases because there are actually 13 legal substandard lots they're using for 14 units, but they only submitted 8 or 9 lots, and I'm not seeing lot ties.)

If you've ever lived near a construction site - you know there are environmental impacts like the constant vibration during grading.  I wonder how much damage the hundred year old homes next door will incur on this not so stable slope.

With no discretionary actions by City Planning (i.e., size of retaining walls, height, setback, parking, yard variances) there was no public review.  Thus, the protected native tree removal permits were issued in August this year, prior to granting grading and retaining wall permits. (It's not clear if grading permits have been issued on all the lots yet.)  

In practice, granting protected tree removal permits prior to issuing grading and retaining wall permits is just poor urban forest management.  Grading is the single most important decision that dictates how things are designed and built on hillside lots.  So often, we see lots sit denuded of trees for decades, before someone comes along willing to throw enough money at it to build it.  Even then, it doesn't always get built.  That is one reason the City's Protected Native Tree Ordinance was favored by environmental and neighborhood groups.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2016. Earlier this year, neighbors were happy seeing many of the protected California Black Walnut Trees growing back after the last tree carnage in 2014.  When you live so close to a freeway, EVERY TREE MATTERS.

It appears the City, in its rush to streamline the building permitting process, is ignoring the fact that Hillside development is not always urban infill (redevelopment).  This is greenfield development (lots in a natural state supporting wildlife) that actually attach to a known wildlife corridor (the Red Car Property).  There was a thriving protected native tree habitat on the 13 lots before the developer began cutting down trees without permits (apparently without much of a penalty) 2 years ago.

Clearly this 8/13 lot project is one project, involving a lot of grading between the already built lots on Riverside Drive. 

Related: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Wants To Clean Up Riverside Drive (Yes, you should always ask "Why and who is sponsoring it?")

Corralitas Drive: Is There Any Wonder Why Neighbors Hate Developers?

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 15, 2015.   Developer's trucks left a very narrow passageway between heavy equipment, parked cars, and a truck blocking the public staircase, starting at 7AM Saturday for the construction site in front of 2512 - 2614 Corralitas Drive.  (Click on photo to enlarge)

Complaints from neighbors started rolling in to my email box shortly after 7AM Saturday, for the third Saturday in a row.  We thought we had an agreement with the developer so he would notify us so we could move cars from this portion of the street in addition to the first blind curve coming up the hill.  I forwarded this photo to him, after a neighbor sent it to me.  Hours later he responded, claiming no knowledge of the work happening Saturday.

Another neighbor pointed out, little or nothing has been happening on this construction site on weekdays, so why is this happening on weekends on a narrow substandard hillside street with only one means of access?  On Saturday, Building & Safety isn't working so it's not like we have any recourse.

Report violations to LA Dept of Building & Safety

Report parking violations to Dept of Transportation (i.e. Parking Enforcement) (818) 374-4823  

Additional questions, problems with City departments: contact Mary Rodriguez, CD13 Silver Lake Deputy: Mary.D.Rodriguez@lacity.org (213) 207- 3021
  

Corralitas Drive: Peaceful Saturday Morning, Oh, The Joys Of Hillside Living!

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 8, 2015.  For the second Saturday morning in a row,  the developer of the lot at the top of the Corralitas Public Staircase has completely disregarded the neighbors by having a very large crane working, trucks parked on the wrong side of the street, Bobcat backhoe parked not only in the red zone on a blind curve, but also on the sidewalk (despite multiple requests by the homeowner not to park on the sidewalk.  

He failed to give the neighbors warning, or even put up signs that they would need the entire portion of the street on a Saturday morning. (Although a neighbors reports they did an excellent job of cleaning the street afterwards.)

We also requested no grading, hauling or deliveries on Saturdays due to the extreme challenges of parking and hillside construction, are much worse on weekends on a substandard hillside street with only one means of limited access.  How hard is it to get large trucks and equipment up Corralitas Drive?  See this post from last month.

Another neighbor commented "There was heavy equip, multiple flatbeds to pick up the heavy equip and every guy was in a big truck."  

We've repeatedly requested they park their unnecessary vehicles at the bottom of the hill. Instead, it's the neighbors who have to haul their groceries up the 6-story public staircase.  The neighbor who sent the photo said, "I ran some errands and  just parked on the bottom and took the steps as there's no way to get up by car at the moment. To top it off, another neighbor's got tons of workers here too."  

You better be fit or not be in a hurry to get up or down the hill.  It's another Joy of Hillside Living.