La Cañada Flintridge City Hall

Great people. Clean and safe feeling in these troubled times.

IWhen my neighbor decided to build an addition to their house that came to fifteen feet from my back yard my entire life was ruined for months on end. Because it was a first floor addition, the inadequate City of La Canada zoning laws excused them from having to do any planning reviews or mitigation with plant screening whatsoever. It was an in your face structure with nothing to shield me from it and a pool in my back yard gave me virtually no space at all to plant the eyesore out while they had fifteen feet of earth at their disposal sitting there scorched earth/no plants with the city not requiring them to provide any sort of natural screening for the eyesore now occupying every rear window and the entire yard of my house. Even though it is uphill from me, because it was a first floor, the city refused to make them plant to mitigate. It destroyed and decimated the value of my property and the City of La Canada was unhelpful and dismissive. I went from looking at the mountains to looking into their glass back door, fifteen foot yard with nothing planted, and lights, etc, etc, just an epic loss of my privacy and property value. It was what every homeowner would have nightmares over, happened to me. When I showed it to family, friends and neighbors they said it looked like I was facing another house in the rear and that we shared a back yard. When I discovered that this neighbors fence encroached me by a foot, I was thrown into a nightmare with the city trying to reclaim this lousy foot of land with which to plant vines on my side to plant these neighbors out, with the city unhelpful in my opinion throughout the process to the point where I was getting a changing story of what was acceptable every time I talked to them. They were in my opinion unsympathetic, intimidating and entirely unhelpful, all the while I was trying to do what damage control I could at a huge expense to me. In my experience, once the neighbors permit is issued, they defend issuance all the way, in my case my neighbor was evasive about his plans so by the time I realized what was happening they already had permits issued and the planners never even spoke to them about neighbor impact at all because they were in first floor addition loophole world where it is easier to get approval and easier for them to completely ruin your house way more than if they are building a second floor which requires a planning review. I've had at least three neighbors who gave me dire, dire warnings that dealing with building and planning in La Canada was a nightmare and I have to say they couldn't have been more right about that. In my personal experience, if you complain they ignore it then accuse you of badgering which in my opinion is endemic perhaps how they continue the same treatment without addressing such complaints, apologizing or changing. City of La Canada Flint-ridge get it together as a long time resident I just know that the treatment I received from your offices was dismal in my personal opinion, and I've had other long-time residents relay to me the same type of experience. As a person not believing in disputes and lawsuits, I'd almost want to say I should have lawyer-ed up to deal with them. There was only one lady in that organization, just one mind you, who after seeing how I was being treated, actually tried to be nice to me, a glimmer of hope, but it was way too little too late in my opinion.

Friendly service here. I need it to apply for a business license today.

Building and safety team rocks