Council Ready to OK 542-Unit Project After 2-Decade Fight

After more than two decades of controversy, the Glendale City Council this week pledged to approve the 316-acre Rancho San Rafael subdivision--the largest housing development in the city’s history.

“This is a landmark decision,” said Councilman Larry Zarian after four of the five council members said they will approve the 542-unit development plan.

The compromise plan cuts 46 housing units from a previous proposal and, to the relief of nearby residents, preserves much of a ridge line that will hide the development from the rest of Chevy Chase Canyon.

Final approval requires a four-fifths vote and Zarian, a supporter of the project, will be out of town during the next regular council meeting Tuesday. In order to avoid delays, Mayor Ginger Bremberg scheduled a special council meeting Sunday at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall. That is the earliest date permitted under the city’s charter for adopting precise plans for the subdivision. Council members supporting the ordinance said they will vote the same way Sunday as they did informally Tuesday. Councilman Jerold Milner, who opposes the project, said he will not attend the special session.

“I’ll be at the meeting to jump for joy,” said Timothy MacDonald of La Crescenta, whose family has fought for more than 25 years to develop the property situated above Glendale Community College, east of the Glendale Freeway. The subdivision will be the first approved under the city’s new Planned Residential Development ordinance, which permits higher density in some areas in exchange for more open space in others.

The expected approval of specific plans Sunday will allow construction to begin, and developers said they expect to start grading in August.

Development of the site was long tied up by court battles, zoning disputes and financial troubles.

The City Council in late 1985 had approved a plan allowing construction of 588 units in the hills, while requiring that 190 acres of the site be preserved for open space. A zone change for the project was approved in April, 1986, but specific plans were not.

In January, Homes by Polygon of Costa Mesa, the builders, joined the MacDonald family in the project after a previous partner sold out its share. This spring, Polygon and the MacDonalds proposed scaling the project down to 572 units but almost doubling the number of single-family homes and cutting back the number of duplexes and attached town houses.

Scaled back again in recent days, the latest plan calls for 130 two- and four-unit town houses, 189 duplexes and 223 single-family houses on a site covering about 127 acres. The remaining acreage is dedicated to the city as open space.

The builders reduced the project to avoid carving into a ridge in Chevy Chase Canyon and building homes on it. The city Planning Commission and area homeowners strongly opposed plans to cut up the ridge and leave the development visible to other neighborhoods.

Two weeks ago, the City Council delayed action on the project and urged developers, homeowners and planners to reach a compromise. On Tuesday, the parties returned to council chambers after working out most of the issues.

Marlene Roth, consultant for the developers, said the builders also will reroute the planned extension of Mountain Street eastward from the freeway to Camino San Rafael in the Emerald Isle area of Chevy Chase Canyon. The rerouting will cut a 50-foot-deep slice through the ridge but will remove a 700-foot-long road from the view of canyon neighborhoods, she said.

The city Environmental and Planning Board recommended to the council a further environmental study of the modified plans for the ridge. But the council went ahead and approved the project on condition that the ridge remain undeveloped.

The council also rejected planning director Gerald Jamriska’s recommendation that the developers install sidewalks on both sides of Mountain Street and allocate more land for parks.

Roth asked to pave only the north side of the road to allow landscaping on the south side. She also argued that the planned 1.2-acre park and open spaces on individual lots would be adequate recreational area for the more than 1,300 expected residents of the subdivision.

On Monday, the Planning Commission approved Roth’s proposals by a 2-1 vote. Council members ratified that recommendation Tuesday after the developers agreed to study increasing the size of the park, which will be developed in a later phase of the subdivision.

Milner, who has long said that only single-family houses should be built on Glendale’s hills, cast the lone vote against the project. He also argued for sidewalks on both sides of Mountain Street. “Safety should be our paramount concern,” he said.

After the vote, city officials, the developers and Chevy Chase homeowners praised each other for working together.

“This is the first time that homeowners, staff and council members so divided on an issue have come together and said we want to see this through,” Zarian said.