Neighborhood Group Sues to Block Porter Ranch

A north San Fernando Valley neighborhood group filed suit Wednesday to void the Los Angeles City Council’s approval of the 1,300-acre Porter Ranch project, saying the $2-billion development would create gridlock, crowd schools and overload sewage and garbage systems.

As unanimously approved by the council July 10, Porter Ranch would be one of the largest developments in the city’s history, providing housing for 11,000 people and jobs for 20,000 when it is built on the slopes of the Santa Susana Mountains north of the Simi Valley Freeway in Chatsworth.

In a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against the city and the developer, leaders of PRIDE, a neighborhood group opposed to the project, sought a 75% reduction in the 6 million square feet of commercial space in the project. Paul Clarke, a spokesman for Porter Ranch Development Co., dismissed PRIDE as a “small fringe group” and called the suit a “frivolous legal action.”