Report Says Porter Ranch Plan Would Reshape Hillsides

A proposed $2-billion, 1,300-acre residential and commercial development would permanently change the look of an area of rolling hills in Chatsworth, but would not create other problems that could not be solved, according to a draft environmental impact report released Tuesday by the Los Angeles Planning Department.

The report, which was prepared for the Porter Ranch Development Co. by a Sherman Oaks engineering firm, said the project, north of the Simi Valley Freeway and west of Tampa Avenue, would require moving 40 million cubic yards of earth. The grading would smooth out the rolling terrain where the developer wants to build 2,195 single-family houses, 800 condominiums or apartments and about 7.7 million square feet of commercial space.

The grading’s effect “would permanently alter the visual character of the site from surrounding areas,” the report said. “Views of existing undeveloped rolling hills would be changed to views of residential and commercial development and landscaping with some open space remaining.”

But the report by Engineering Technology said the proposed project’s effects on traffic, schools, water usage and sewers would either be insignificant or manageable because of measures the builder plans to take, such as constructing new roads and paying $15 million for new schools.

Government agencies such as the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District have 45 days to comment on the report. Planning Department officials said they expect to schedule a public hearing on the environmental report next month.

The development is a logical extension of existing housing in Porter Ranch, which encompasses a large area of Northridge, said Paul Clarke, a spokesman for the developer. If approved, the project would be the largest planned development on a single piece of property by a single landowner in the history of Los Angeles, Clarke said.

Some hills would be lowered and some valleys filled by as much as 100 feet or more, the report said. But the builder would control erosion, use landscaping and take other steps so that “no significant adverse impact is anticipated,” the report said.

The report painted an optimistic picture of the development’s effect on traffic. Although the project would generate an estimated 164,840 daily traffic trips by 2010, the effect would be diminished by the developer’s extension of unfinished roadways such as Mason, Winnetka and Corbin avenues and Sesnon Boulevard and Rinaldi Street north of the Simi Valley Freeway, the report said.

Of the surrounding area’s existing or future intersections, which are projected to be at or near capacity even without the project, only one--Wilbur Avenue and Rinaldi Street--would be adversely affected by Porter Ranch, and only by a slight amount during evening rush hour, the report said.

But the report added: “Total future traffic on the study area street system would still be adverse,” with 16 intersections at or near capacity in the morning rush and 20 jammed in the evening rush.

On other issues, the report said the development would add 9,325 residents to the area over the 20- to 30-year construction period, prompting a need for 28 more police officers.