Bel­Air Homeowners Alliance Reaches Settlement With City, Project Owners Over Somma Way Project

By Matt Lopez of the Beverly Hills Courier

One construction war in Bel-Air has finally come to an end, thanks to a settlement reached last week by the Bel-Air Homeowners Alliance (BAHA) in its lawsuits against both the city of Los Angeles and the owners of the 10697 Somma Way project.

The BAHA had originally filed suit after the approval of an application to export 29,474 cubic yards of earth from what was slated to be a 40,000 square foot home.

According to a statement from the BAHA, mitigation steps taken by the Somma Way owner helped pave the way for the settlement.

“As a result of various steps taken by the owner/developer of the project, to further mitigate the Somma Project’s impacts upon the Bel-Air community, and also recent actions taken by the City to substantially mitigate the volume of dirt export from large hillside development projects in Bel-Air (including a limit of 6,000 cubic yards of export from any one Bel-Air project), the alliance has agreed to settle its lawsuit against the city of L.A. and the Somma Project.”

The statement added that the BAHA would take no further action against the Somma Way project, provided the project owners abided by the terms of the settlement, and that the BAHA “looks forward to working closely with city officials as the city develops its new ordinance for more responsible development in the Bel-Air hillsides.”