* Opponents fear project sits on earthquake fault
* City says it has ordered more tests
* Developer of Hollywood towers calls allegations “baseless”
By Tim Reid
LOS ANGELES, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Opponents of a project to
build two skyscrapers in Hollywood on Wednesday accused the city
of Los Angeles, and the building developers, of conspiring to
hide their concerns about an earthquake fault that may run
underneath the site.
Citing emails and internal documents they received from Los
Angeles City Hall through California’s Public Records Act, the
group claims that city building safety officials and developers
of the Millennium Hollywood project discussed last year the
possibility that an active earthquake fault ran under the site.
The group, led by environmental attorney Robert Silverstein,
also accuses the developers, Millennium Partners, of conducting
a geological earthquake study in November last year, and then
failing to include the study in a subsequent Environmental
Impact Report.
The $664 million Millennium Hollywood project includes
construction of two high-rise towers that would dwarf the
landmark Capitol Records building. It would add more than a
million square feet of office, hotel and retail space to
Hollywood.
The project was approved by the Los Angeles City Council
last month and is supported by the city Mayor Eric Garcetti. But
opponents object to the radical change it will mean for the
Hollywood skyline, and claim it is dangerous because the
nine-mile Hollywood Fault runs through the area.
“The Hollywood Fault is considered active and appears to
exist in the vicinity of the subject,” a Los Angeles Department
of Building and Safety Official wrote in a letter to a city
planning official, according to one internal letter.
The letter, dated May 23, 2012, was one of several internal
communications provided by Silverstein, acting for a coalition
of 40 community groups that oppose the project.
Silverstein also released an email exchange between a city
official and an attorney for the developers in which they
discussed a 2010 California state survey that showed a fault
could run under the project site.
“These are smoking gun emails,” Silverstein said. “The city
and developer have been claiming that no evidence shows an
earthquake fault across the property.”
One problem is that nobody knows for certain exactly where
the Hollywood Fault lies. A state survey to properly map it is
not due to be completed until the end of this year.
Luke Zamperini, from the Los Angeles Department of Building
and Safety, denied Silverstein’s allegations.
“No one is trying to hide anything,” he said. “We have seen
no evidence that the project is on the fault. But if it is, they
will have to move it.”
The city has asked the developers to conduct further
geological tests and will review the results of the state survey
when it’s complete.
Millennium Partners, the developers, say they did their own
geological testing and found no evidence of the fault underneath
the site.
In a statement, Philip Aarons, founding partner of
Millennium Partners, called Silverstein’s allegations
“baseless.”
“We have agreed to do further subsoil investigations,” he
said. “We are 100 percent committed to building a safe project.”
(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Ronald Grover and Lisa
Shumaker)
