Panel Supports Plan to Build 277 Houses : Sylmar: A lone Planning Committee member approves the project, which next will go before the City Council.

A plan to build 277 single-family houses in Sylmar won approval from the chairman of the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning Committee Tuesday after the developer was directed to update a study of the project’s effect on traffic.

The Carey Ranch project, located in Councilman Ernani Bernardi’s district, next goes to the City Council for approval of a series of zoning changes and amendments to the Sylmar Community Plan.

Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the committee, was the only member present for the hearing.

A city Planning Department report, filed with the committee, said 75 acres of the 137-acre project were being set aside for open space, including 16.5 acres for a community park.

The Carey Ranch property runs along the east side of the Golden State Freeway north of Hubbard Avenue.

The Planning Department reportedly observed that the project would have a negative effect because it would not create permanent jobs in Sylmar. The community is already too jobs-poor and housing-rich, and the addition of 277 homes would only exacerbate this imbalance, the report says.

Jobs-housing balance has become an increasingly important criterion in the eyes of city planners concerned about reducing traffic congestion by integrating housing and workplaces.

Additionally, the project will not provide affordable housing, the report says.

Finally, the report says, the project “will further overburden fire and library services in the Sylmar community” which is now served by Fire Station No. 91, “a single engine company, and the Sylmar Library, a 5,511-square-foot facility.”

To ease these conditions, the city will require the developer to support the creation of a special tax district in Sylmar to finance construction of new public facilities, the report says.