Planners Back 50-Unit Building Limit at School Site

In a blow to a religious order’s plans to sell the vacant Corvallis High School campus in Studio City to developers, the Los Angeles Planning Commission on Thursday recommended reducing the number of housing units that can be built there.

Some homeowners, who said they feared increased traffic congestion, have opposed an effort by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary to ensure that zoning for the property will allow construction of luxury condominiums or a retirement home.

The Corvallis site now is zoned for commercial and multifamily development, allowing up to 246 units. But the city planners have solicited ideas from Studio City residents for new zoning for the campus as part of a citywide rezoning study under way.

Peter A. Lynch, who represented the nuns at Thursday’s hearing, said putting up either condos or a retirement home would fetch about $9 million for the Roman Catholic order.

Assents to Compromise

The commission assented to a plan by City Councilman Mike Woo to zone the Corvallis site partly for single-family homes and partly for low-density apartment houses.

If the City Council adopts the commission’s recommendation, development would be limited to about 50 units, which would include houses and apartments, said Eric H. Roth, Woo’s planning deputy. That would be far less than the 130 units proposed for the condominium project and the 160 units proposed for the retirement home.

“This is a very, very traffic-impacted area,” Roth said, explaining Woo’s reason for supporting a zoning change to allow fewer units on the site.

Commission President Daniel P. Garcia said Woo’s plan “makes sense” as an attempt to appease homeowners and still allow some development of apartment buildings on the 3.6-acre former school site on Laurel Canyon Boulevard south of Ventura Boulevard.

The impending zoning changes are putting the nuns’ plans for the site in turmoil, Lynch said. If the property is zoned only partly for multifamily development, it would be difficult to sell at a significant profit, he said.

The nuns are not expected to decide their next move until next week, he said. They have considered keeping the land and using the site as a shelter for the homeless, he said. At one time, a representative of the religious order hinted that the site might be used for an AIDS hospice.

Neighborhood Split

City officials said early in the controversy that they probably would abide by the residents’ wishes. But there were indications Thursday that the neighborhood might be split on the Corvallis issue.

Polly Ward, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said her organization will meet next week to review its position on the matter. Ward said she had to leave Thursday’s hearing before she could speak.

Several homeowners who urged the commission to allow only single-family homes “are brand new” to the issue, Ward contended, saying “they popped out of the woodwork” at a neighborhood meeting March 29.

At that meeting, an overwhelming majority of about 150 residents voted to support only single-family homes on the site. But her organization, which sponsored the meeting, was not prepared for such a vote, Ward said.

David Axelrad, one of the homeowners who spoke at Thursday’s hearing, said the residents’ association is “completely out of touch” with the wishes of the neighborhood.

The Corvallis question is expected to be considered by the City Council’s Planning and Environment Committee within the next two months, Roth said. A recommendation from that committee will be passed on to the full council.