Akhilesh Jah shouted down angry Woodland Hills residents at a Los Angeles planning hearing over his senior housing proposal.
The aerospace engineer-turned-developer, whose plan would replace a single-family home with a 71-unit facility, clashed Thursday with neighbors at the Los Angeles City Planning Commission meeting in the ritzy San Fernando Valley community. Officers were forced to escort at least one woman from the chaotic public forum as tensions boiled over.
At one point, Jah was forced to shout over the crowd: “It’s my turn to speak! When you spoke I didn’t interrupt, did I?”
But the angry audience wasn’t having it.
“He’s just a perv,” one person yelled from the crowd, according to footage from the hearing.
“You lie, shame on you!” another woman shouted before officers escorted her from the meeting.
“I’m going to do black magic on you,” a third person threatened.
The extraordinary scenes unfolded as residents fought against Jah’s proposal to demolish a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home on Del Moreno Drive and replace it with a 71-unit senior living facility featuring a cafeteria and medical office. The property sits directly across from Taft High School, with homes on one side and commercial buildings near Ventura Boulevard on the other.
Neighbors say the project is wildly out of place in their quiet residential community, and they’re particularly furious that the development would have no parking. Residents also raised concerns about the location being within an LA Fire Department fire zone.
Jah said the project would include eight units designated as low-income housing. Under California’s increasingly developer-friendly housing laws, projects that include affordable housing can qualify for incentives allowing them to sidestep certain local restrictions involving density, height and parking.
That has left some residents feeling as though their neighborhood rules have been rendered practically meaningless.
Most of the variances Jah sought were approved by the commission, although the developer still faces additional hearings and permitting. Jah has indicated the project could be years away from construction.
Residents, meanwhile, say they have no intention of backing down.
The bitter Woodland Hills fight is part of a larger battle playing out across California, in which developers are increasingly using state housing laws and density bonuses to propose projects that would have been difficult or impossible to build under traditional local zoning rules. Jah has spent years studying California housing laws and local zoning regulations, targeting properties where state incentives could allow substantially denser development.
His projects have sparked fierce opposition in the San Fernando Valley, where residents fear large developments could permanently alter the suburban character of their communities.
Jah still faces additional hearings and permitting before construction could potentially begin.