Bel-Air Neighbors Celebrate After City Revokes Building Permit For Controversial Mansion

BEL-AIR (CBSLA.com) — A hillside home has slid out of favor with neighbors who say the monolithic structure skirts building codes and destabilizes the slope.

City inspectors have halted developer Mohamed Hadid's 30,000-square-foot project after several residents' complaints also got the attention of Councilman Paul Koretz.

Koretz wrote in July that the place looks "more like the Getty Center than a home."

"It is one thing for a developer to build a large home because the code allows him to do so," the councilman said in an email to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. "It is another thing when the code may have been skirted, with an entire community's way of life in jeopardy."

Hadid's attorney, Ben Reznik, said the city revoked his building permit before his consultants could address the issues.

Chief Inspector Luke Zamperini told the Times that the city "got tired of waiting for them to provide us information."

Neighbors told CBS2/KCAL9's Serene Branson that they aren't opposed to development, they just want it done right.

Leading the charge is the resident whose 4,000-foot Balinese-inspired contemporary sits just below Hadid's mammoth mansion. Entertainment attorney Joseph Horacek III said Hadid removed dirt from the hillside so that he could build the towering structure whose height extends way past what city code allows.

Horacek said the home "evolved into this huge monster" and looks right into his backyard. He fears the project, which he refers to as the "Starship Enterprise," has made the hillside unstable and that it will all come crashing down on his home. He said portions of the hill have already come onto the street.

Reznik told Branson that he's disappointed with the city's decision and called it premature. He said they're planning to appeal.