Council takes on parking, landscaping and fences

In addition to the peafowl debate, the City Council took on a flock of other issues during the Monday night meeting. Among those: landscaping issues at the La Cañada Town Center, the appeal of a planning commission decision of a non-permitted block wall between feuding neighbors, and results of a recent parking study.

Despite arguments of Castle Road homeowners Charlotte Byron and Ayad Alinizi, their attorney and a petition signed by several other neighbors, the council voted unanimously against a city staff recommendation to overturn a previous planning commission decision. The decision, which was upheld by the council in a vote of 5-to-0, requires the couple to reduce the height of a fence between that property and the neighboring home of Otis and Pat Hutchins.

Byron and Alinizi built the fence despite two stop work orders by city code enforcement, according to city staff, which also explained that miscommunication between the city and the couple may have played a part in the situation.

Although the council agreed the front, street-side portion of the fence is attractive, the height of the fence, which reaches 6 feet tall in portions must be reduced to the city’s required 42-inch height maximum. Lighting on the fence also needs to conform to city requirements, the council agreed.

The council also heard the results of the city’s comprehensive parking strategy report, which includes a study conducted by Bonnie Nelson, a parking consultant with Nelson Nygaard consulting associates, based in San Francisco.

In her report, Nelson offers suggestions for improving parking capacity on city streets, as well as insight into problem areas and potential solutions, such as having specific businesses work together and share parking areas.

Nelson’s findings that La Cañada Flintridge “doesn’t have a parking problem,” in comparison with other cities across the country, were based in part on the fact that, she said, La Cañadans prefer to park directly in front of a business, rather than walk a few blocks. For that reason, building a parking facility that requires residents to walk a number of blocks to conduct business within the city really wouldn’t be cost effective, she said.