Tempers Flare Over Resort Proposal : Topanga Canyon Styles Clash at Hearing

Topanga Canyon residents fighting over a proposed $100-million golf resort teed off against each other Wednesday before the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission.

Planners postponed a decision on a series of zoning-change and development-permit applications for the 257-acre resort after residents debated whether the project would help or harm their canyon.

The three-hour hearing underscored a clash of life styles in Topanga Canyon, a rural mountain community with ready access to the San Fernando Valley.

Supporters of the project, most of whom live at the northern crest of the canyon, condemned the development’s foes as hippie holdovers of the 1960s who live in a rustic “skid row” in the canyon’s bowels.

The opponents countered by charging that some supporters of the project, which one foe called a “country club for the wealthy,” have threatened to shoot those working to defeat the resort.

The development proposal by the United States Building Corp. is the largest ever for the canyon.

The firm has applied to build a three-story hotel, 90 condominiums, 136 luxury home sites, tennis and equestrian facilities, and a heliport and commercial complex west of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, near the canyon’s summit. The development would be centered around a new golf course that would be open to the public.

The dispute between residents has centered on whether the project will spur much-needed public improvements or merely flatten hills and bring congestion. But even the issue of where to hold the next public hearing on the project prompted angry exchanges.

Opponents of the resort picketed Tuesday at the project site, carrying signs with slogans such as “Topanga is not Carmel.” On Wednesday, both sides were represented in an overflow crowd of about 250 people at the Planning Commission’s downtown Hall of Records board room.

“We feel this is the finest thing we could ever hope to have on the site,” testified Joan Cooper, president of the Homeowners Assn. of Viewridge Estates, a 131-home subdivision near the top of the canyon. She said the resort would become the “front yard” to her neighborhood.

“This is not a feasible or appropriate project for that area,” countered Robert B. Goldberg, a spokesman for the Topanga Township Council, which represents several hundred families living deeper in the canyon. “We’re talking about the urbanization of the north end of the canyon.”

Goldberg complained that foes of the project, who have collected letters and petitions opposing it, were forced to stop canvassing in the 224-unit Top-O-Topanga Mobile Estates. The resort has attracted support from many residents of the park, situated near Topanga Canyon’s boundary with Woodland Hills.

“Our canvassers were threatened. They were told if they came back their heads would be shot off,” Goldberg told commissioners.

Someone in the rear of the meeting room shouted out: “That’s a lie.”

Developer Christopher R. Wojciechowski said the project will have a minimal effect on the canyon. He told commissioners that his planned 106-room hotel would resemble “an inn, a hideaway” that would help support the golf course.

“Contrary to the belief of our opponents, we do have a right to use this property for its intended purposes,” Wojciechowski said. “It’s time the rest of us had a chance to enjoy that precious environment of Topanga Canyon along with the few residents who live there now.”

Commission members told Wojciechowski and homeowners that they will study alternate development plans for the mountainous site before agreeing to any proposal. They said they will also seek guarantees that United States Building Corp. has financial backing to finish the project before any permits are approved.

At the urging of project foes, commission chairman Stanley Gould at first agreed to schedule the next hearing for March 3 at the Topanga Community Center. He changed his mind, however, when project supporters urged him to instead hold the hearing at the Top-O-Topanga mobile home park’s clubhouse.

Gould then ruled that the hearing will be held on neutral ground--at the county supervisors’ board room in downtown Los Angeles.

That did not quell the debate, however. Before officials ordered the commission board room cleared, the two sides continued to spar.

“This project will help get us a decent sewage system,” said Jeanette Miller, president of the Top-O-Topanga Mobile Home Assn. “If all their things are put in, it will give us more protection. This project really doesn’t involve people at the other end of Topanga Canyon.”

Her husband, Ray Miller, said residents at the top of the canyon are different from those at the bottom.

‘You See the Hippies’

“It’s a skid row down there,” he said. “You go down into Topanga Canyon and you see the hippies growing marijuana in the hills. Police are always finding dead bodies down there.”

The characterization was disputed by Jan Moore, president of the Topanga Township Council.

“Topanga Canyon may have been that way back in the days of the hippies. But it’s not that way now,” Moore said. She said canyon dwellers who support the resort proposal are those who live “in Canoga Park-type housing tracts. . . . Those people have a different mind-set.

“We’re upscale. We have a lot of attorneys who have volunteered their time. We’ll go to court if necessary to block this.”

Wojciechowski said he is also prepared for a court fight.

“We’ve been at this for six years,” he said of the planning for the project, which he is calling the Montevideo Country Club. “If it takes another six years, we’ll do it. Maybe we’ll sue them before they sue us. We have plenty of grounds. We happen to be right.”