Commission OKs Zoning Change for Business Park on Sylmar Hillside

The Los Angeles Planning Commission approved controversial zoning changes Thursday that could transform a rural hillside in Sylmar into a sprawling business district that has been touted as the Warner Center of the East San Fernando Valley.

Saying that the massive project would bring much-needed jobs to the heavily populated northeast Valley, the commission approved zoning changes that would permit construction of Sunset Farms Business Park, which would be the largest business center in the northeast Valley.

The zoning changes from low-density housing to industrial use still must be approved by the City Council’s Planning and Environment Committee and then by the full City Council.

The area, widely known for the private Sunset Farms park, a popular site for corporate picnics, is located above the intersection of the Golden State and Foothill freeways.

Create Jobs

The development would include nearly 2 million square feet of industrial space housed in about 45 buildings, a 100-unit hotel and about 34 single-family homes spread over 262 acres of scenic foothill land.

It would create more than 3,000 jobs in Sylmar, whose population skyrocketed 28% from 1980 to 1986, making it the fastest growing community in the city of Los Angeles.

In supporting the project, Planning Commission President Daniel P. Garcia said a primary objective was to “provide more employment opportunities where the housing is.”

Landowner and developer John Symonds lauded the commission action, saying that a major obstacle had been cleared and that “Sylmar will get a great project.” He said his development will contain high-quality offices and industries on a landscaped “campus-like setting.”

Homeowner leaders, especially residents closest to the site who have vehemently fought the project for the last two years, promised to continue their fight at City Hall.

Homeowners, resigned to the fact that some kind of business park would be developed on the land, intend to press the council for restrictions that would prohibit warehouses and distribution firms there, said Clay Murray, president of the Saddletree Ranch Homeowners Assn.

“We are not out of the battle yet,” Murray said. “We will not stand by and let that type of industry next to our houses. We are concerned about the quality of our lives.”

Although the site contains 262 acres, much of the land is not suitable for building because of canyons, high voltage power lines and other utility easements.

The Planning Commission approved zoning changes that would allow the developer to build industrial sites on about 80 acres of the land. Symonds had requested changes that would have allowed about 100 acres of industrial land.

The city planning staff had recommended that the other 20 acres remain open space, with one section to be developed as park-like playing fields.

However, neighbors protested the playing fields, saying the remote location would make the area attractive for drug dealing and crime.

In response to these concerns, the commission gave the developer 30 days to work out alternative plans for the open space.

In his first public statement on the project, East Valley Councilman Ernani Bernardi said he supported the project as long as Symonds agreed to certain conditions to ease traffic problems. “The land is going to be developed. But what I am concerned about is the protection of the single-family neighborhood,” Bernardi said.

City traffic planners and the developer are at odds over the amount of traffic the project will generate. Symonds’ planners estimated the project will bring about 13,000 vehicle trips a day. City planners say they have not verified this, and an earlier estimate of more than 21,000 trips a day still applies.

The commission ordered the developer to undertake a widening of the Balboa Boulevard bridge over the Golden State Freeway and conduct a feasibility study on building new freeway on- and off-ramps north of the bridge to help solve traffic problems. In addition, Symonds will be required to widen the section of Foothill Boulevard from Yarnell Street to Balboa Boulevard.

Also, the developer’s request to build low-income apartments along San Fernando Road, south of Balboa Boulevard, was scratched. Bernardi and homeowners had opposed it.

The commission also restricted the height of all buildings in the project to 45 feet. In one area, the developer had asked for 75-foot-tall structures.