Woo Defends ‘Selective’ Stance on Hollywood Development

Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo this week defended his growing involvement in Hollywood’s redevelopment planning process, saying he wants to “establish specific ground rules early in the game.”

Woo told the Project Area Committee Monday night that he negated its earlier vote to increase apartment densities on Franklin Avenue because he wanted to make his major planning objectives for Hollywood “clear from the outset.”

The 13th District councilman also changed the committee itself, replacing four members who had been appointed by his council predecessor, Peggy Stevenson, with four of his own appointees.

Woo, who will now turn his attention to resolving a dispute between the city Planning Department and the Community Redevelopment Agency over how to plan development in Hollywood’s commercial core, said he is taking a more selective approach to growth than Stevenson did.

“I don’t plan to take an anti-development stance in Hollywood,” he said. “But we have to be selective where that density should be allowed.”

Met With Skepticism

Woo’s statements met with skepticism from some committee members who believe that any major restrictions on development could prevent Hollywood’s anticipated commercial rebirth.

Committee member John Ehretz said that on Franklin Avenue--a narrow street lined with large, old apartment buildings--Woo’s stance would mean little reversal of a decade of decay and growing social ills. “Only minor changes will occur if your recommendations are followed,” Ehretz said. “You don’t attract significant development with modest densities. The marketplace should have the ability to replace these buildings.”

Woo disagreed, saying, “I don’t believe increasing densities will take care of our social problems. The market won’t assure that, either.”

Several committee members also expressed concern that Woo’s decision would derail an attempt by developer Tom Glover to build a hotel at his Magic Castle site in the Hollywood foothills. Glover’s plans have been opposed by Hollywood Hills residents.

“It looks like his (Glover’s) proposal never had a chance,” said Edward Hunt, a committee member who is also Glover’s architect. “The unfortunate thing is the decision is already made.”

But Woo said a final ruling has yet to be made. “There are some major issues on the hotel’s impact on density in the Franklin Avenue area that need to be resolved,” he said.

The Project Area Committee, which was elected to advise the Community Redevelopment Agency on its plans for Hollywood, voted earlier this year to allow apartment developers to build up to 130 units per acre along Franklin. Hillside homeowners objected, claiming that the high densities would add to traffic congestion on Franklin and clutter Hollywood’s skyline.

The Community Redevelopment Agency accepted the committee’s vote, but Planning Director Calvin Hamilton balked, agreeing with the homeowners. Two weeks ago, at a meeting attended by Hamilton and redevelopment agency administrator Edward Helfeld, Woo sided with the lower-density advocates and ordered a revised proposal under which apartment densities along Franklin would not exceed 80 units per acre.

“I’d like to avoid any more of these high-temperature situations where one side tries to stampede the other,” Woo said.

He admitted that he had made his decision on Franklin Avenue without consulting the committee and pledged that in the future he would invite some of its members to attend similar meetings when planning policy is set.

Woo then announced that he was replacing four members of the Project Area Committee who had been appointed by Stevenson. The four departing members are architect Hunt, Whitley Heights homeowner Brian Moore, Hollywood Arts Council representative Oscar Arslanian and Jack Goodman, owner of Goodman Cadillac.

The new committee members are Ted Kitos, a Hollywood resident who is an aide to West Hollywood Councilman Stephen Schulte; Marsha Kwalwasser, vice president of the Center for Law in the Public Interest and a member of the preservationist group Hollywood Heritage; Paul Verdier, a theater director and member of the Hollywood Arts Council, and Osheen Keshishian, editor of the Armenian Observer, an influential English-language Armenian newspaper.

Kwalwasser’s appointment is expected to boost the influence of preservationists, who previously were represented only by architect Frances Offenshauser, also a member of Hollywood Heritage.