Council OKs Study on Warner Ridge Plan

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday authorized paying private consultants up to $250,000 to study the environmental impact of a proposal by Councilwoman Joy Picus to allow only single-family residences to be built on Warner Ridge in Woodland Hills.

The council decision was a victory for Picus in her battle with the Spound Co. and Johnson-Wax Development Co., owners of the 21.5-acre Warner Ridge, who want to build an 810,000-square-foot commercial complex on the site.

Jack Spound, one of the development team members, sharply criticized the council’s move. “It’s surprising that when the city can’t afford police protection and is raising water rates that it would spend $250,000” on such a study, Spound said.

Council members voted 9 to 1 to approve the expenditure. No consultants have yet been selected to perform the work and it was unclear how extensive or costly a study would be, said Frank Eberhard, deputy planning director.

The council voted in January to zone the Warner Ridge property for single-family residences at the request of Picus.

But in a lawsuit subsequently filed by the developer, Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski ruled that single-family zoning is legally incompatible under state law with the local community plan, which designates the property for commercial development. Zebrowski ordered the city to bring the zoning and community plan into conformity by Dec. 21.

Picus wants to comply by amending the plan to bring it into conformity with the single-family zoning.

Zebrowski has acknowledged that the city can do that. The judge, however, has also strongly indicated he might order the zoning brought into conformity with the commercial-use plan if the city fails to achieve conformity by Dec. 21.

The Planning Department requested the $250,000 authorization because an environmental study is likely to be required before the City Council could amend the community plan, Eberhard said.

Eberhard said he has never seen a plan amendment approved in only five months before. “But I think it’s theoretically possible to do it . . . if everyone cooperates,” he said.

Eberhard said the city is giving “red carpet, expedited treatment” to the Picus community plan amendment proposal because of its importance to the entire city.

“We’re protecting the integrity of the city’s entire planning process,” Picus said when asked if $250,000 for an environmental study was excessive. “This has nothing to do with Warner Ridge, but everything to do with the planning process, which the judge has thrown into question.”

If Zebrowski’s decision is allowed to stand, then the owners of 15,000 similarly situated properties--in areas throughout the city where community plans allow more intense development than the zoning--could also sue the city, Picus said.