Environmental Impact Study Delays Vote on Warner Ridge

At first glance, the 30-month battle over Warner Ridge seemed to rage unchanged Thursday as Woodland Hills homeowners for and against the $150-million office proposal took potshots at one another before the Los Angeles Planning Commission.

Planners postponed their vote on the 22 1/2-acre hillside development plan until May 11 to give themselves time to review its impact on the environment--the same reason the project was initially delayed after its first planning hearing in October, 1986.

But testimony during Thursday’s two-hour hearing, which drew nearly 160 to the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, proved that much has changed since the controversy began--even if environmental questions remain.

Developer Jack Spound explained that he has substantially changed his development over the past two years. He said he redesigned his proposed nine-building project at the northeast corner of De Soto Avenue and Oxnard Street at the request of homeowners to protect their neighborhood from traffic and shield their homes from a direct view of seven-story buildings he hopes to construct.

Picus Urges Veto

City Councilwoman Joy Picus suggested her views on the project have changed since 1986, when her own hand-picked, six-member advisory panel endorsed it. She now knows that “the overwhelming majority of area residents vigorously oppose this office project,” Picus told commissioners. She urged planners to veto the plan and to order single-family houses built on the site instead.

Homeowner B.B. Maynard, who lives closer than anyone to Spound’s site, has changed his mind about whether the office project will intrude on his neighborhood. He opposed its height in 1986, but with its redesign and the lowering of proposed buildings behind his house, he “would like to see this project go forward,” he said in a letter read to the commission.

Planning staff conclusions about the project also have changed, documents submitted to the commission showed. It was revealed for the first time that planners assigned to the city department’s San Fernando Valley office strongly opposed the office complex before a Planning Department hearing examiner from downtown Los Angeles endorsed a slightly scaled-down version. Later, the examiner’s boss took a middle ground--recommending that the project be built if several buildings were lowered and overall square footage was further reduced.

Group Brings Lawyer

Another change Thursday was one of tactics. Instead of making their own arguments against Warner Ridge high-rises, as they have at past city hearings, leaders of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization showed up with a lawyer. His presence was seen as a signal that the group is prepared to take legal action if they lose: He recently filed suit for the group against the Los Angeles Community College District in hopes of overturning the lease of surplus Pierce College land for development.

Pierce College leaders also may be changing their stance on the office project. College Vice President William Norlund testified that the school is against single-family homes on the site because of its proximity to a campus pasture. But Norlund stopped short of endorsing the office project, which administrators have supported in the past.

The one thing that didn’t change on Thursday was each side’s resolve. Both sides agreed that feelings over the project continue to run so deep that the fight will doubtless be taken to the City Council, no matter what the Planning Commission decides on May 11.