Local News in Brief : Building Limitations Backed on Woodland Hills’ Girard Tract

A Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday recommended approval of a building moratorium in a 1 1/2-square-mile hillside area of Woodland Hills where residents have complained about construction of large houses on small lots.

The 2-0 Planning and Environment Committee vote sent the measure to the full council, which usually follows the panel’s recommendation. Committee Chairwoman Pat Russell was absent.

The moratorium was proposed by Councilman Marvin Braude in response to complaints from his constituents who live in the area, south of Ventura Boulevard and east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Residents of the area, known as the Girard Tract, have complained about parking shortages, traffic congestion and other problems from the construction of large houses on small lots.

The Girard Tract was developed by Woodland Hills founder Victor Girard in 1922 as a weekend retreat for Los Angeles residents. Lots were subdivided at a then legally permited 3,500 square feet. Although the first houses in the area were tiny three-room cabins, in recent years large homes, “which are considered substandard by today’s regulations,” have been built Braude said. The city’s zoning now requires a minimum of 5,000 square feet per residential lot.

“The Girard Tract is a long festering problem,” Braude told the committee Tuesday. “It’s a steep hillside area. It’s an area with inadequately developed streets. It was all right in the olden days. But now everyone is trying to develop every square foot of land, and the community just can’t handle it.”

Braude said the moratorium, with a possible one-year extension, would give planners time to review ways to restrict development.