Renaissance Summit (also known simply as Renaissance or Renaissance at Porter Ranch) is a gated housing subdivision in the northwest

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

of the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, at the highest point in the

Porter Ranch Porter Ranch is a suburban neighborhood in the northwest San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. History New home construction that was completed in the Porter Ranch area in the 1990s–2000s, including the Renaissan ...

neighborhood. Its building and opening was championed by major local political figures in the 1980s and 1990s but was also an ongoing source of controversy in the area.

Opening

The development opened in August 1999. The building of Renaissance Summit and the surrounding areas was mired in controversy and Los Angeles politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Existing residents of the Porter Ranch area feared the increased traffic that would be brought by the planned building of an area commercial complex to service the new homes being built. The community had also been criticized for destroying the natural beauty of the brush and wild areas that inhabited the space before the houses were built. The ceremony for the opening of the subdivision was unusually packed with Los Angeles political elite, including

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Richard Riordan, City Council President

John Ferraro John Ferraro (May 14, 1924 – April 17, 2001) was an American politician and businessman who was a Democratic member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1966 until his death in 2001, the longest tenure of any member in the city's history. Befo ...

City Councilman A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

Hal Bernson Harold M. Bernson (November 19, 1930July 20, 2020) was a Los Angeles City Council member for 24 years, from 1979 until his retirement in 2003. A conservative Republican, he was a leading proponent of the San Fernando Valley seceding from the rest ...

, and

Police Chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

Bernard Parks. It was built by Shapell Homes, a company founded by Nathan Shapell, an

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

survivor, philanthropist, and major Los Angeles builder .

Homes and administration

Renaissance Summit has been described as a "bastion of luxury" located on the slopes of the

Santa Susana Mountains The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando and Simi valleys on its south from the Santa Cla ...

. It offers a high viewpoint looking down on other neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley, including Reseda,

Canoga Park Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a rancho, and after the American victory it was converted into wheat farms and t ...

, and Sherman Oaks. Houses average 4,000 square feet. Design styles include Spanish Colonial, classic Italianate, Tuscan, coastal, and American traditional. The development's security is strict, with visitors unable to enter through the community gate unless their names are on a guest list. In 2006, the development's homeowner association and property management firm, Ross Morgan & Company, drew attention when they demanded that a homeowner remove a flagpole from her property on which an American flag was hoisted.

References

{{cite news , title=Homeowner's Flagpole Creates Flap , first=Dennis , last=McCarthy , url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HOMEOWNER'S+FLAGPOLE+CREATES+FLAP.-a0149276697 , newspaper=

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

, date=August 8, 2006 , access-date=January 25, 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305015750/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HOMEOWNER%27S+FLAGPOLE+CREATES+FLAP.-a0149276697 , url-status=dead , archive-date=March 5, 2016

Opening

Homes and administration

References

See also