Who will back down in Silver Lake building dispute?

It seems that somebody may have to do some tear-down work on Robinson Street in Silver Lake.

But will the demolition require a bulldozer, or merely a sledgehammer?

Homeowner Richard Kaye wants a three-story house being built within inches of his own 90-year-old home knocked down and rebuilt farther away.

Developer Chong Lee counters that a corner of a garage and a balcony that wraps around Kaye's house should be removed because they extend as much as five feet beyond the property line.

According to Kaye, Los Angeles building officials improperly ignored the proximity of his house to Lee's when they issued a building permit and allowed construction to begin seven weeks ago.

He alleged that Lee used white-out correction fluid to conceal the outline of Kaye's balcony and garage on the plot plan submitted for approval by the Department of Building and Safety. Kaye points out that the city building code states that "any misrepresentation in any writing submitted to the department" is punishable as a misdemeanor.

"My attorney came out here and talked with Mr. Lee and he said, 'Yeah, I whited it out. An inspector told me to do it,'" Kaye said.

His lawyer, Kevin McDonnell, said the developer admitted doing the deed during a conversation he had with Lee on the street in front of the construction site.

"He showed me his plans. They showed the projections shown initially on the approved plans had been whited out. You could see it. He said it was suggested that they do it and the city supervisor knew there was white-out on the plans," McDonnell said.

Lee did not dispute that account but noted that the city is well aware that his new house is within arm's reach of a corner of Kaye's balcony.

"His house is shown in many other places. I think they didn't want it shown, but it's shown on many copies of the plans," Lee said. He stressed that his project meets all city setback requirements and speculated that Kaye's balcony was built without a permit.

"It doesn't look like it was engineered correctly. The balcony is really dangerous. It's old. Code enforcement will evaluate it," Lee said. "I feel bad for him.... I wanted to work it out with him."

Although houses built in the 1920s such as Kaye's could be built right up to the property line, homes such as Lee's must be at least 7 feet, 3 inches from the lot boundary.

The dispute involves two pie-shaped parcels on a curving hillside street between the 101 Freeway and Sunset Boulevard. Many of the homes in the area were built in the '20s, with some of the steeper lots left undeveloped for decades.

When completed, Lee's house will feature a modern look and will zigzag down the hill from Robinson.

Kaye has asked officials to void Lee's building permit on grounds that his plans were approved "without a complete disclosure of the dimensions of my house and its proximity to the house" being constructed.

"My house was built in 1923 and I bought it in 2002. There are city plot plans going back more than 50 years, establishing the property lines," he said, adding that everything on his property has been built with permits. "My lot as reflected in the plot plan from the files is actually significantly larger" than Lee's plot plan indicates that it is.

After Kaye, owner of the Koda sushi restaurant and sake bar on Sunset, complained to Silver Lake-area City Councilman Eric Garcetti's office that Lee's house is too close, aides asked building and safety officials to investigate the permit approval and the alleged white-out incident.

"If what the homeowner says is true, it's an unacceptable and outrageous defrauding of the city," said Yusef Robb, Garcetti's deputy chief of staff. "We've contacted the Department of Building and Safety and asked for a full investigation."

Luke Zamperini, chief inspector with the department's inspections bureau, said officials are unaware of anyone from the department suggesting that the plot plan be altered and will investigate if further information is provided.

"We don't normally ask to see the buildings next door," Zamperini said of building permits. "So far, we haven't been able to find permits for the balcony or garage."

If Kaye can't prove that they were built with a permit or that they were constructed before the parcel containing his house and Lee's was split into two lots, at least part of the balcony and garage will probably have to be torn down, he said.

If anyone has evidence that the balcony and garage had permits or were built before a lot split occurred, tell the city, Zamperini said.

"We'd welcome that," he said. "It could change the direction of the way things are going."