Congregation Wins OK to Build Temple

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday, after hearing of a compromise that had been worked out with opponents, voted 13 to 0 to permit a Woodland Hills Jewish congregation to build a 450-seat temple on land that it leases from Pierce College.

The action allows Temple Shir Chadash to proceed with plans to build the temple, along with a 750-seat social hall and a religious school for 300 children in the 19900 block of Topham Street, on 17.5 acres that the temple leases from the college.

Sy Spalter, Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization vice president, has said his group got most of what it wanted under the compromise, worked out by Councilwoman Joy Picus. The group’s main concerns were with the traffic impacts of the temple complex.

The temple pledges to keep nearby Calvert Street one-way, to review the possibility of making three adjacent residential streets cul-de-sacs and to have city experts study traffic problems at Topham and Victory Boulevard.