Historic La Cienega Site : State May Enter Case on Water Works

The California attorney general’s office may enter a case brought by a preservation group seeking to prevent the city of Beverly Hills from demolishing the 60-year-old La Cienega Water Treatment Plant.

Pamela P. Cvitan, a deputy attorney general, said that the state will decide next week whether to represent the state Office of Historic Preservation in a suit brought against Beverly Hills in March by the Friends of the Waterworks.

“I think there is a fairly good chance” the state will enter the case, Cvitan said, “but I just can’t commit myself at this point.”

Cvitan said that the state is deciding whether to claim that Beverly Hills should have consulted the historic preservation office before it decided to demolish the plant, the city’s first civic building. The office, set up in 1984, reviews and issues comments to other agencies on the historic significance of buildings that were built with public funds, Cvitan said.

‘Not Given Opportunity’

“It appears that we were not given an opportunity to (review the building) prior to the council’s decision,” Cvitan said.

Cvitan said that the state will be also be looking at California law to determine whether the city should have prepared an environmental impact report on the demolition. An environmental report is required if the building is determined to be of historic significance, she said.

“My understanding is that there was quite a bit of evidence presented to the city of (the building’s) historic value,” Cvitan said.

Cvitan said, however, that she has been unable to find a precedent for pressing the suit under the state law that created the historic preservation office. “It appears that this may be a first-time situation, but I don’t know yet,” she said.

Built in 1927, the La Cienega treatment plant, located at 333 S. La Cienega Blvd., was once used to filter well water. The Spanish Revival-style plant was damaged in the 1971 earthquake and has been unused since the mid-1970s.

On March 3, the City Council voted 3 to 2 to demolish the plant to expand a grass field at La Cienega Park. Council members favoring the demolition said that the $5 million to $7 million estimated renovatation cost was too expensive.

In its case, Friends of the Waterworks claims that the city had not observed state environmental law when the council ordered the demolition. It said the building is of historic significance and that the city should have prepared an environmental impact report.

The Friends obtained a temporary Superior Court restraining order on March 20 to block the demolition. A judge will decide April 10 whether to grant the group a preliminary injunction to delay the demolition. Cvitan said the state will decide next week whether to submit court papers by the April 10 hearing.

Attorneys for Beverly Hills said they would not comment on the case until they have filed the city’s court papers. Joel Berman, a Century City lawyer for the city, said that he may file a response on Friday.

City Atty. Max Greenberg said, however, that “anyone present at the discussions by the City Council will be aware of the fact that there was a serious concern for public safety for the building and its contents.”

Beverly Hills argued at the March 20 hearing that the building should be razed because it is not earthquake-safe and poses a safety hazard.