Antonovich Urges Both Sides to Settle Dispute Over Topanga Project

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich told opposing groups of residents Thursday to try to compromise on a controversial proposal for a golf course, hotel, housing and commercial development in Topanga Canyon.

The developer of the proposed 257-acre Montevideo Country Club resort, Christopher R. Wojciechowski, appealed a January ruling by the county Regional Planning Commission rejecting the hotel and a shopping center and ordering a redesign of the golf course.

After the County Board of Supervisors heard his appeal and responses from project opponents Thursday, it delayed a vote and said a hearing on the matter will resume Aug. 4. The delay came at the request of Antonovich, whose district includes the area proposed for development.

“I would like to see if both sides could come up with a decision that is a consensus on this proposal,” Antonovich said. The supervisor said he will oppose the developer’s appeal unless such a compromise can be reached.

Slow-Growth Issue

The issue is politically sensitive for Antonovich, who is seeking reelection. It was the first major development question to come before him since the June 7 primary, when he was forced into a runoff. A substantial chunk of his opposition came from slow-growth proponents in Topanga Canyon and elsewhere in his district. Since 1980, Wojciechowski has contributed more than $28,000 to Antonovich’s campaigns.

A leader of the opponents of the $100-million Montevideo proposal was not optimistic that a compromise could be reached with Wojciechowski and three homeowner groups that support his proposed resort.

“The only thing he has done is present his entire project and said he has to have all of it,” Wayne Northrop, a member of the Topanga Town Council, said of the developer.

Wojciechowski, however, said after the hearing before the supervisors that elimination of the 220-room hotel or 17,000-square-foot shopping center might not doom the entire project. “We’ll try” to compromise, he said. “We’ll do what we can.” Previously, he said he needed income from the hotel to pay for the $10-million golf course.

The Planning Commission in January determined that the hotel and shopping center would permanently alter the rural character of the canyon. The golf course, the commission ruled, must be redesigned to reduce the planned 3.8-million cubic yards of grading. The commission did not object to his proposal for 163 homes.

Groups Support Plan

Leaders of the Homeowners Assn. of Viewridge Estates, the Cielito Vista Estates Community Assn. and the Top O’Topanga Mobile Homeowners Assn. support the Montevideo proposal. Joan Cooper, of the Viewridge Estates group, told the board Thursday that the golf course would guarantee permanent open space, form a protective barrier against brush fires and add to the county’s property tax rolls.

The annual net tax benefit to the county would be more than $1.5 million, said John C. Argue, an attorney for the developer. Topanga residents also would see their property values rise, he said.

But Northrop and several other Topanga residents continued to object to the large amount of grading for the golf course.

Northrop questioned whether the homeowner groups supporting the project actually represent the wishes of their members. He said his group surveyed 120 of 131 Viewridge Estate households and found 86 opposed. In a survey of the Top O’Topanga mobile home neighborhood, 178 of 206 households contacted were opposed, he said.