Council Vote on Sport Chalet Plans Not Expected Until July

A decision on a controversial proposal by the Sport Chalet to build a major shopping center in La Canada Flintridge is unlikely before early July, city officials said this week.

Some observers had predicted that a newly constituted pro-development City Council would quickly approve plans by the Sport Chalet to build a $25-million commercial village at the city’s key intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway.

But council members and city officials said this week that a decision is still not imminent.

“We want to do what is best for the Sport Chalet and also is best for the community,” Councilman Chris Valente said. “That may take some compromises.”

For the last year, the community’s attention has been focused on the Sport Chalet--the most influential commercial enterprise in the sleepy foothill community--since it introduced ambitious plans to replace its existing stores with a major commercial center.

Outspoken community opposition to the original plan--which was criticized as a low-quality, strip-commercial mall--prompted the developer last year to hire a new architect and drastically alter the project to resemble a village square.

But many critics still say the proposal to build a 164,000-square-foot development with 900 parking spaces on an 11.7-acre site is too ambitious for the largely affluent residential town.

Others say the Chalet’s owners, Norbert and Irene Olberz, have catered to the demands of the community by developing plans for a good project and have waited long enough for city approval.

After 15 public hearings, the Planning Commission in February recommended that the council approve preliminary plans for the shopping center. But action by the council was delayed after two of the five members announced that they would not seek reelection.

The controversial project quickly became the focus of the April election, in which three of the seven candidates who were considered the most pro-development were elected. The election results were considered a clear mandate for the city to go ahead with the project.

Public hearings before the council were opened two weeks ago and were expected to end Wednesday night, when the council was scheduled to ratify an environmental impact study on the project.

However, city officials said final action on the proposal will be delayed several weeks because two council members will be on vacation for the next two weeks. While council approval of the project requires only a simple majority vote, all five members have said they want to vote.

The critical issue will center on approval of a conditional-use permit, which will set down restrictions on the development, including the size of the project. Meetings on the permit are expected to be set for late June or early July and require several sessions before council members reach agreement.