No Schools : Sunair Bows to Neighbors in Sale Bid

Sunland-Tujunga residents have pressured the owners of a former home for asthmatic children to try to find a developer of single-family homes willing to buy the 19-acre property.

Ray Shapero, executive director of Sunair Foundation, said Tuesday that opposition by the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents has prompted her group to shelve several other proposals for developing the McGroarty Street property, including one calling for a home for unwed mothers and their children.

“We’re trying very hard to accede to the community’s desires,” Shapero said.

Earlier this year, the homeowner group successfully prevented the former Sunair Home for Asthmatic Children from being used by the Erickson Center for Adolescent Children as a home for emotionally disturbed teen-agers. The Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals ruled in favor of the residents on the grounds that the center was inappropriate for the semi-rural residential area.

Home for Unwed Mothers

The latest proposals, which call for the home for unwed mothers and three schools, are also incompatible with the neighborhood, said Sylvia Gross, president of the residents’ group.

The proposals include a Church of Scientology day school for 240 students, a private day school for 200 children run by a group whose name Shapero would not disclose, a boarding school for young children run by the Erickson Center, and a residential center for abused teen-agers and their infants operated by Los Angeles-based Crittenton Center for Young Women and Infants.

“Our answer to those proposals was a resounding ‘No,’ ” Gross said. “We want to see a tract of homes there or possibly some high-quality senior-citizen housing, but definitely no children.”

$2 Million Price

Shapero said the foundation would like to sell the property, which contains four buildings, including offices and a dormitory, for $2 million. She said money from the sale would be invested, with the interest donated to Los Angeles County children who need medical treatment.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating because we want to help kids, and it’s taking so much time,” Shapero said.

Shapero said if Sunair does not receive an offer from a developer of single-family homes, the foundation may have to proceed with some of the other proposals.

Representatives of both the Church of Scientology and Crittenton said Tuesday that they are no longer interested in the Sunair site.

Shirley Young of the Church of Scientology said the property is not rural enough.

Crittenton’s Sharon Watson said the center was no longer interested because “these kids have already been rejected by their own families, and they don’t need to be rejected by a whole neighborhood.”

High Demand for Housing

Julian Weinstock, a San Fernando Valley developer, said Sunair probably will not have difficulty selling the property because there is a high demand for single-family housing in the Valley.

“Prices have been high, and people are willing to pay a good price,” Weinstock said.

Arline DeSanctis, chief field deputy to Councilman Joel Wachs, said it would be a shame if Sunair’s buildings had to be razed to make way for homes. But she said Wachs supports the residents’ position, although he has not taken a formal position.

“It’s a lovely facility, and the owners of the property do have certain rights,” DeSanctis said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Leada McKelvey, a resident of the neighborhood for 25 years, said she hopes a developer will buy the property. But if no one does, neighbors will continue fighting to preserve the country atmosphere of the area, she said.

At present, she said, “you hear nothing, and that’s the way we want it to stay. Children are noisy.”