Neighbors Vow Fight If Builder Buys Golf Course for Homes

A developer’s proposal to turn the 65-year-old Woodland Hills Country Club into a housing tract is sending shivers through neighbors who view the 97-acre golf course as one of the last greenbelts in the west San Fernando Valley.

The unnamed builder has proposed buying the member-owned club for $18 million and building 120 luxury single-family homes along its hilly golf course a mile south of the Ventura Freeway.

Club officials said they have not received a formal purchase offer. But they said they have met with principals of “a major American real estate partnership.” They said they “expressed no objection” to the firm’s making a formal offer.

Zoning Fight Possible

Woodland Hills community leaders have vowed to fight any attempt to rezone the golf course for residential use, however. The site is designated for low-density, agricultural use.

“We’ll go to the wall to keep it open space,” said Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. “We’ll fight that to the bitter end. It’s a greenbelt that’s sadly needed in the area.”

The golf course was built in the mid-1920s by Woodland Hills developer Victor Giraud, who gave away free club memberships to people buying lots in his housing tract. The course was turned into a private country club in 1945.

Robert L. Bothwell, a director and past president of the country club, said Tuesday that no firm offer has been received. He said he doubts that the club’s 350 members would approve a sale.

“I resent the offer,” Bothwell said. “I think most of the members feel there could be no substitute to having a club. My personal opinion is Los Angeles should stop all country club conversions. These green areas should be preserved. It is a terrible shame to put them into concrete.”

Bothwell said that an indication of club members’ feelings about preserving the country club came last week when they voted by a two-thirds majority to build a $4-million clubhouse on a hilltop above the first tee. Work is expected to begin after Christmas, when an existing club bar and grill facility is demolished, he said.

In a letter to members, club President Bruce R. Gall has reported that the development partnership has agreed to reimburse any money the club spends on the new clubhouse if club members eventually vote to sell.

Levone A. Yardum, the club’s lawyer, said the club did not solicit the purchase proposal.

“The club is not for sale,” Yardum said Tuesday. “It’s never been for sale. I don’t think there’s any chance of it.”

Yardum said Woodland Hills residents “do not have to circle the wagons” to preserve the golf course. “I do not personally think that club will ever be sold. But when you read the Japanese paid $108 million for the Riviera Country Club . . . if someone comes along and offers an outrageous price, it will be the board’s decision.”

Club bylaws call for a vote of members before the club can be sold, although the club’s board of directors can overrule any approved sale, Yardum said.

Some Woodland Hills residents are worried that the club’s owner-members--who have paid as much as $12,500 to join--might be swayed by a big offer.

If the club were sold for $18 million, the members would earn about $51,000 each.

“Objectivity toward community standards may be clouded with such a large sum so easily obtained,” said nearby homeowner L.A. Segal.

Segal has urged City Councilman Marvin Braude to “adamantly oppose rezoning efforts creating a residential ‘Warner Center South.’ ”

Brad Rosenheim, an aide to Braude, said Tuesday that developers have informally approached the councilman’s office about the club. He said residential zoning “is almost guaranteed” if it is sought for the golf course. “The question would be what density,” he said.

“It’s really too early to say anything,” he said. “Nobody has applied for anything yet.”