Builder Cuts Back Development Plan for Elyria Canyon

A developer who was twice defeated in efforts to build in Elyria Canyon has scaled back plans for a housing project in the area, one of the largest remaining undeveloped residential parcels in northeast Los Angeles.

D&D; Development of Brea now proposes building 47 homes on eight of 35 acres the company owns in the canyon, a hillside area of Mt. Washington. The rest of the property would be open space.

Previous proposals by the company for 100 homes on 16 acres were defeated by community groups. Those plans entailed moving more than 500,000 cubic yards of earth and required a zoning change and an amendment to the Northeast Los Angeles District Plan.

The scaled-down proposal is for 47 California ranch-style, split-level homes on two cul-de-sacs and construction of an access road between Winmar Drive and Wollman Drive.

The plan calls for removing 200,000 cubic yards of earth. It would require a change in zoning, but is not so sweeping as to require a district plan amendment.

Even so, it may face stiff opposition from city fire and transportation officials, city planner Sal Salinas said.

“I’m of the opinion that even the 47 units they are allowed to put in under the community plan would be too much for the surrounding area,” Salinas said. “The streets around that area are totally inadequate for that kind of development. It’s going to be some kind of hurdle for them to get the Fire Department and transportation people to cooperate.”

D&D; plans to name the project Sycamore Glen and sell individual homes for about $200,000, said Camille Courtney, company vice president. D&D; plans to pay part of the cost of enlarging water mains and putting in sewers.

Courtney said it is unlikely that D&D; will recoup on its initial investment in the property, which they own jointly with Downey Savings and Loan Assn. of Costa Mesa. But she said the company had no choice but to build.

“We heard the community loud and clear,” Courtney said. “They said no amendment to the general plan so that’s what we’re going to live with. At some point you have to give up.”

The company will meet Monday night with the Mt. Washington Assn., a homeowners’ group that has opposed the development in the past.

“This is a lot fewer than they first came in with, which is really good,” Mt. Washington Assn. President Randall Wiseman said. “We do want to see how much of the hill will be utilized and how much grading will be done before we make any decision.”