La Canada Council Candidates Focus on Growth

The decisions late last week by La Canada Flintridge Mayor Edmund Krause and Councilman O. Warren Hilgren not to run for reelection in April has opened up the council race to a large field of candidates.

Both Krause and Hilgren have served on the council since the city’s incorporation 13 years ago.

Eight people filed nomination papers by the Tuesday deadline for the two open seats on the five-member council. They are incumbent Joan Feehan, former Councilman John Hastings, Public Safety Commissioner James Edwards, Planning Commissioner Judy Breitman, architect Peter Kudrave, dentist Melvin Ricks, real estate investor Elizabeth Blackwelder and legal secretary Barbara Parady.

City development in general--and the proposed Sport Chalet shopping center in particular--are emerging as the most visible issues in the campaign. Urban growth was an issue in the election two years ago, and charges that the council had been too eager to approve developments dogged the incumbents.

Views of candidates in this year’s election differ widely on the Sport Chalet development and other growth issues.

Hastings, a 61-year-old building contractor, was appointed to the council but was defeated when he ran for election in 1988. Hastings, who served as mayor pro tem during his tenure on the council, could not be reached this week to comment on his candidacy.

“It’s going to be starting over again for the whole council,” Feehan said. “I will have the most experience,” she said, citing her four years on the council. “I think I can be more of a resource for the city than I have in the past.”

Feehan, 58, has been a California resident for 30 years and has lived in La Canada for 21. A past president of the PTA, she has been active in the community. Feehan was a member of the Trails Council prior to her election to the City Council.

Maintaining the community’s “residential ambience” is of primary interest to Feehan, who said she is especially concerned about residential redevelopment changing the atmosphere of the neighborhoods.

Breitman also sees unplanned city growth as a major issue. Breitman, who has been on the Planning Commission for two years, said many citizens have not been made aware of proposed developments, which could threaten the city’s rural atmosphere .

“Every community was rural at one time,” said Breitman. “We’re as close to still rural as you can get. I think people’s attitudes are changing.”

In addition to her work with the Planning Commission, Breitman is a divisional vice president of special events and public relations for May Co. She has lived in La Canada Flintridge for 25 years and has three grown children. Breitman said the council should adopt a master plan.

“We need a plan,” she said. “We need responsive management. We could be like a new palate for a good urban designer.”

A comprehensive master plan to guide urban development is also a primary concern of candidate Kudrave.

“There has to be a long-range plan,” Kudrave said. “To me the real issue is finding a consensus and reaching for the character of what the city will be in the year 2000.”

An architect by profession, Kudrave, 52, moved to La Canada Flintridge 16 years ago and bought property on which he designed and built his own home. In 1976 he founded Group Arcon, a Los Angeles corporate architectural and urban planning firm. His credits include creating master plans for Paramount and Burbank studios.

The proposed La Canada Village shopping center project has become an important focus in Kudrave’s candidacy. The Sport Chalet’s design for the complex has received increasing public attention.

Many community residents have said they want the land developed, but feel the shopping center should be smaller than presently planned. Kudrave offers an alternative design that he said is more in keeping with the needs of the community. A flyer describing his design was sent to community residents.

“I was on the peripheral edge until the mailer was sent out,” he said. Kudrave said he had questioned members of the planning commission and the City Council about the development after his neighbors had expressed their concern.

“Beyond the Sport Chalet we have a bigger challenge,” he said. “What is the vision that the people have of this city?”

Ricks said he thinks the developer’s present design is fine. Ricks, 55, said he wants to see the shopping center move forward because it will “spark a newness on Foothill Boulevard” that will enhance and stimulate other businesses in the area.

“I think the Sport Chalet has the right to develop its property,” he said. “I think it’s been worked out very well.”

A La Canada Flintridge resident for 19 years, Ricks, has a dental practice in Glendale. He was involved in a legal squabble 1988 when the city alleged a fence he was building on his property would have obstructed an equestrian trail over which the city holds an easement.

Blackwelder said maintaining the network of hillside horse trails in the area is very important to her. As president of the Trails Council, she works to ensure the recreation paths are not blocked by urban development projects.

“Trails have been there before buildings,” said Blackwelder, who owns two Arabian horses and is a trail rider. “I would like to see more space to walk.”

Born in Chicago, Blackwelder moved to La Canada Flintridge in 1950. She has four children and has worked as a clinical lab technician. She is semi-retired.

An opponent of the proposed Sport Chalet project, Blackwelder is concerned that condominiums and high-rise buildings may follow if the shopping center is built. Instead, she would like to see a city hall on the property.

“Since La Canada Flintridge is now a city, we definitely need a city hall,” she said. “This huge complex cannot survive with sales of the community alone.”

Parady said she feels a vocal minority of residents may have had undue influence over city development.

“We don’t want the special-interest groups to decide for the whole community,” said Parady.

Parady, 47, a part-time legal secretary in Glendale for about 20 years, was born and raised in Glendale. She said she has been involved in city government since moving to La Canada Flintridge four years ago.

Parady said her family was attracted to the city because of the excellent school system and the equestrian trails.

“We wanted to live in a community where we could keep our horses with us,” said Parady. She has been involved with the Trails Council, which is working to complete a network of equestrian trails in the surrounding mountains.

Parady said she is in favor of the proposed Sport Chalet development, but feels it should be modified.

“I agree fully that the community needs something done along Foothill Boulevard,” said Parady. “I’m not quite in favor of Sport Chalet being as big as it is proposed, but I am not against the development.”

Edwards said the size of the proposed Sport Chalet development should not be the most important issue in the election.

“What we do with 11 acres of land at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest is not the most important thing in our lives,” Edwards said. “We’re not going to build all over the hillside. That’s not what the people want, and I’m definitely opposed to that.”

“I feel people have the right to develop their land, as long as they do it within the system,” Edwards said. “So far these people have done so. I think they have scaled it down to a scope that seems to be acceptable. I don’t think it’s going to create a major traffic problem, and I think it is going to be a benefit to the community.”

Edwards, 45, has lived in La Canada Flintridge for 12 years and has served on the city’s Public Safety Commission for four years. He is a native Californian who owns an independent brokerage firm in Montrose. For the last 16 years Edwards has been a member of the Montrose Search and Rescue Team.

For Edwards, the city’s recent recycling program reflects the spirit of concern and participation he sees in the city’s residents.

“It was so good that the first day they didn’t have enough trucks to pick the stuff up,” he said. “That’s the kind of spirit I know the city has.”