Over staff’s objections, Planning Commission poised to approve unpermitted office conversion

DOWNEY – The Planning Commission is poised to allow what the city’s staff has determined to be an illegal office conversion.

Commissioners on May 16 voted 3-2 for the staff to draw up documents that would allow the conversion. Those documents will go before the commission on Wednesday.

Lawyer Timothy Nilan and his wife converted a house on Lakewood Boulevard just south of Fifth Street into an office, but the couple never got permits for the conversion, according to the city’s staff.  Nilan and his wife also built in such a way that the improvements didn’t comply with the city’s building and zone requirements.

In May, Commissioners Robert Kiefer and Michael Murray voted against allowing the variance. Commissioners Hector Lujan, Louis Morales and Ernie Garcia voted in the Nilan’s favor.