New W. Valley Zoning Stresses Low-Rise Look

Acting on a 3-year-old pledge to preserve the low-rise look of the rapidly growing West San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles officials Thursday unveiled new zoning maps for Woodland Hills and Canoga Park.

City planners said they will seek zone changes on about 750 parcels in a 30-square-mile area to enforce a 1984 regional master plan for the two communities.

City officials are required by state legislation and a court order to make all zoning in the city conform with Los Angeles’ master plan by next March.

The new zoning, which will allow for about a 32% population increase by the turn of the century, will protect existing residential neighborhoods from much of the severest impact of business and industrial projects, officials said.

It will also preserve ridge lines from construction and restrict development along the Ventura Freeway at the western edge of the Valley, which is viewed by planners as the “Gateway to the City” of Los Angeles.

Affects 16,544 Acres

The new zoning affects 16,544 acres south of Roscoe Boulevard and west of Corbin Avenue and includes residential neighborhoods of Winnetka and West Hills.

Officials outlined the rezoning plans at a community workshop Thursday evening at Parkman Junior High School in Woodland Hills. They said public hearings on the new zoning are scheduled April 2 at the school.

“Thousands of individual lots are included among the 750 parcels targeted for rezoning,” said Daniel Green, a senior city planner. “The city is proposing to reduce the development potential on several thousand properties.”

The new zoning fills gaps left by broad development guidelines included in the “Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills District Plan” adopted in 1984 by the City Council as part of the overall city master plan.

Some property owners complained that the district plan was long on philosophical goals but short on specifics--particularly when they found that the actual zoning on their property differed from the designation suggested by the master plan.

Preservation Was Goal

Objectives of the 1984 plan included preservation of “well-maintained neighborhoods” and open space while providing for sufficient commercial and industrial development to “promote economic well-being.”

The estimated population allowed by the proposed zoning is 181,400. That is only a 3 1/2% increase from the 1984 district plan’s estimate of a population of 175,500 by the year 2000. But it is a 32% increase over the area’s actual 1984 population of 137,453.

Before the 1984 master plan was adopted, city planners had projected that the West Valley communities would eventually house 187,000 people.

The proposed zoning calls for 77% of the West Valley to be used for housing, mostly in single-family dwellings. Twelve percent would be devoted to open space, including parks and schools. The remaining 11% would be for commercial and industrial uses.

The zoning plan generally clamps a three-story height limit on new office buildings along most major commercial streets, including most parts of Warner Center in Woodland Hills, and in Canoga Park on Sherman Way, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and industrialized areas around Deering Avenue.

Similar three-story height restrictions are spelled out for most of Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, although six-story buildings would be allowed at several spots on the north side of Ventura Boulevard east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Most Won’t Be Rezoned

Officials said most property in the Canoga Park-Woodland Hills area is already consistent with the master plan and will not have to be rezoned.

Woodland Hills homeowner Ron Baum, who said he attended Thursday night’s meeting to learn his neighborhood’s future, commented: “I’m relieved that development is somewhat more restricted than I thought it would be.”

Ernest A. Lamont, another Woodland Hills resident, said he went to the meeting with the question in mind, “Hey, what are they going to do to us now?” but went away pleased by the proposed height limitations on commercial areas.

“I think the height limitation is good for us as homeowners, and maybe it will limit the number of people on the Ventura Freeway as well,” he said.