MALIBOU LAKE : Residents Hot Over Building Ordinance

Spared by last November’s devastating wildfires, residents of Malibou Lake are mad as blazes over a Los Angeles County building ordinance that intends to protect their mountain hamlet from future infernos.

Some don’t think it goes far enough. Other think it goes too far.

Both sides will have their say Wednesday when the Regional Planning Commission considers establishing a permanent community standards district that aims to balance fire safety issues with the rights of landowners to use their property.

Temporary restrictions have been in place since January, 1993, but will expire this summer unless made permanent by county planners and the Board of Supervisors.

Homeowners say the restrictions--which govern how much of a lot a new house can occupy, ban street parking and require fire sprinklers--do little to alleviate fears that they would be unable to escape the path of oncoming flames.

They say their narrow, winding mountain roads will not handle any additional traffic and want the county to severely limit the number of new houses.

But owners of vacant property complain that curtailing new construction would be a violation of their rights.

At a preliminary meeting Tuesday night, fire officials told residents that they thought the new requirements would allow more houses to be built safely in the community--something few wanted to hear.

“Will the county guarantee our safety?” one woman asked. “Will you have firetrucks coming in to save us? We’re on our own up there. It’s already overbuilt.”