Plan to Zone Warner Ridge for Housing Advances

A proposal to restrict development of Woodland Hills’ Warner Ridge property to single-family houses gained ground at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday.

But a fight by some homeowners to block a proposed office complex is far from over.

The City Council voted 12 to 0 to tentatively approve changing the city’s master plan to require single-family houses instead of commercial development on the hilly, 22-acre site at the eastern edge of Warner Center.

The action was requested by Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents the area. Council members customarily defer to the member whose area would be the site of a project.

Homeowner Pressure

Picus, who faces reelection April 11, has been under pressure from homeowners to oppose a proposal by developer Jack Spound to build a nine-building, $150-million office complex with up to seven stories on the site at the northeast corner of De Soto Avenue and Oxnard Street.

Spound said Tuesday that he will seek to overcome Picus’ opposition when the city Planning Commission considers the matter.

Changing the master plan will require another council vote, as well as approval of the commission and Mayor Tom Bradley. If Bradley and the commission disapprove of the change, Picus will need 12 votes--instead of the usual eight--from the 15-member council for approval.

Bradley has not taken a position on the change, a spokesman said.

“We’re not giving up,” said Spound, who has hired lobbyists to help persuade city officials to approve his development. He said the council action “significantly prejudices our ability to get a fair hearing” before city planners on Feb. 6.

Spound has contended that Picus’ opposition is a “move to protect herself from attack by rival candidates in the upcoming council election.”

Commercial Use Backed

Spound noted that a citizens advisory committee appointed by Picus has backed commercial development of the property. Picus said she went against her committee because of overwhelming community opposition to Spound’s project.

Picus was supported at the council meeting by representatives of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization.

Spound said that a residential project on the site is not feasible because buyers would resist expensive single-family houses overlooking an industrial area. ‘We would suffer a terrible economic loss,” he added.

“People would kill to own homes there,” Picus said. “Single-family homes, no matter how expensive, are so much in demand that they would be snapped up.”