Bill Would Exempt CSUN Development From Zoning Laws

A $150-million development for Cal State Northridge would be exempted from city of Los Angeles zoning ordinances under legislation unveiled Friday.

Under provisions amended to a bill by Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), the city merely could review and comment on the North Campus-University Park Development--a joint public and private project--but not subject it to city zoning restrictions.

The project has triggered concerns and questions from Senate staffers and from Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), who represents a portion of the university’s campus.

“My gut instinct is that it’s better to subject this to local permitting,” Robbins said of the project. He added that he has not taken a position on the legislation.

A Senate floor analysis of the amendments said the project appears “to raise a major policy issue regarding mixed land-use of state property by private development and bypassing of local government land-use jurisdiction.”

Jurisdiction Questioned

At issue is whether the development should be regarded as public and exempt from local land-use policies or as a private development under the jurisdiction of local zoning laws.

Sen. Ed Royce (R-Anaheim), who is carrying the bill in the Senate, said the amendments were introduced because a land title company “has a problem” about whether the project would come under local zoning or be exempted--as are most purely state projects, such as university buildings.

However, the North Campus development is not merely a public project. It involves a partnership in which the state is leasing the land to Watt Investment Properties of Santa Monica, which is building university facilities at no cost to the state, said Ann Salisbury, spokeswoman for CSUN.

The project includes a high-tech educational center, a stadium, a theatrical hall, student housing for 2,400, a 200-room inn, an office complex, a botanical garden and 5,000 parking places, Salisbury said. Five new dormitories already have been completed on part of the 100-acre project site bounded by Lassen Street on the south, Zelzah Avenue on the east, Lindley Avenue on the west and Devonshire Street on the north.

The developer would gain back some of his investment by renting hotel and office space and could put up more buildings on the property.

“We’re getting a vast number of buildings at no cost to the taxpayers,” Salisbury said in an interview. She said the legislation has been introduced to satisfy any future lenders’ concerns that the builder might have trouble with local zoning regulations.

Salisbury said that state projects are not subject to such ordinances and that the Nolan bill would clearly spell that out. Salisbury also said that the university is pushing the bill now because it wants to get on with the development as quickly as possible.

The bill is scheduled to be heard on Monday by the Senate Local Government Committee.

But the 1988 legislative session ends Wednesday and Senate staffers privately complained about the detailed changes sought at the last minute.

Panel’s Analysis

According to an analysis of the bill prepared by the Senate Local Government Committee, the state usually can ignore local land-use policies and regulations. But when the state acts as a private land developer, it “is subject to local land-use regulation,” the analysis said.

Further, the bill analysis notes that in 1975 a district court of appeals held that the Northridge campus was subject to city ordinances.

In that case, a circus rented roughly the same land as where the development has been started, but the university failed to obtain a city permit. The court held that the city has the power to enforce its ordinances against lessees of the university.

But Salisbury said the university views the decision as irrelevant because it involved a city permit, not zoning.

Previously, the legislation dealt with unrelated provisions affecting Cal State Fullerton and was being carried by Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra). But in a practice common in the Legislature, those sections were stripped from the bill, Nolan took over the new proposal and Royce remained as Senate sponsor.

City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, could not be reached for comment Friday.