Developers’ Plan to Block Streets Splits Neighbors in Woodland Hills

An effort by developers to make peace with Woodland Hills homeowners over a proposed nine-building office complex has run into a new roadblock--a real one this time.

Residents say they are outraged by a plan to ease traffic congestion by installing concrete traffic barriers to block turns into the two main entrances to their 1,300-home neighborhood. Homeowners said the barriers would force them to drive miles out of their way.

The restrictions were suggested Wednesday night by developers hoping to build a $150-million office project on 22-acre Warner Ridge next to homes and Pierce College.

The builders said new restrictions for turns off Winnetka and De Soto avenues into the 25-year-old Carleton Terrace residential area will prevent traffic from the project from clogging neighborhood streets. The traffic controls were proposed as developers met Wednesday night with homeowners.

The builders hoped to defuse controversy over their project by pledging to reduce traffic in the neighborhood by half. To do that, they proposed to install concrete barriers to block left turns from Winnetka into westbound Oxnard Street and from De Soto into eastbound Oxnard.

No Left Turns

Left turns would also be prohibited at the intersection of Winnetka and Clark Street from 7 to 9 a.m. and at De Soto and Clark and De Soto and Burbank from 4 to 6 p.m., under the proposal.

“This is a concept we think has merit,” said Mitchell Brown, development manager for Johnson Wax Development Corp., a partner in the high-rise project.

Most of the more than 100 residents gathered for the meeting disagreed, however. They said they would object to driving miles out of their way to enter their neighborhood, which is bounded by the college on the north and the Ventura Freeway on the south.

“We were here first,” said Bernie Markman, a 15-year resident. “Why should we be inconvenienced for your project?”

Robert Gross, an official of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization who is helping to lead a campaign to persuade Los Angeles city officials to reject the project, said traffic is not the only issue.

“The question of commercial development east of De Soto is the underlying concern,” he told Brown and project partner Jack Spound. “Change your project to something that addresses community concerns.”

That would mean scrapping the office project and building a residential subdivision on Warner Ridge instead, Gross said.

But Spound held out no hope that will happen.

“There is no turning back for us,” he said. “We are committed to build a high-quality office project. We believe a commercial development is not inherently incompatible with your community.”

Spound said he and his partners have spent hours talking to Carleton Terrace residents in an effort to revise the project, which comprises seven office buildings, a restaurant and a parking garage. Tom Friedman, a 13-year resident who was an organizer of the meeting, said he was disappointed that homeowners were unable to make peace with Spound and Brown.

Friedman’s wife, Sue, said the neighborhood should be willing to accept traffic controls that will protect it as nearby Warner Center grows more congested.

“I think there has to be a compromise,” she said.