LA HABRA : Residents Oppose Plans for Complex

Despite the pleas of neighboring residents, the city Planning Commission approved plans for a Whittier Boulevard auto repair complex on the city’s western side.

“I never thought they’d put in a business that would vomit noise and fumes into my back yard,” said Joseph Gorman, a 27-year resident whose home is near the auto repair shop.

Plans for the service center call for three one-story buildings containing six business units and totaling nearly 20,000 square feet.

Syrie Louderman, another resident of West Linda Avenue, told the commission that she circulated a petition among homeowners and found a “groundswell of opposition.”

The petition, bearing 27 signatures, cites noise, air pollution and aesthetics as reasons for denying the project.

But proponents of the project said it fits the existing land-use requirements for the neighborhood.

“We are in conformance with the general plan,” said Bill Handley, the project’s engineer.

Several commissioners sympathized with the sentiments of neighbors but suggested there was no legal basis for denying the proposal.

“Since it complies with all city requirements I have to be in favor of this proposal,” Commissioner Charles Taylor said.

Chairman Paul Thornburg agreed. “I have no choice but to approve it, even though I’d rather not,” he said.

Commissioner David Cheverton was the lone dissenting vote. Although he initially proposed amendments to the list of conditions applied to the project, Cheverton ultimately voted against approval.

The amendments, which were ultimately included in the approval, restrict operating hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, disallow bay doors facing the residences and forbid auto body work or spray painting in any of the businesses.

Thornburg told the residents that they have 10 days to appeal the decision to the City Council. The neighbors gathered outside City Hall after the hearing to plan their strategy. Gorman announced that there would be an appeal.