Override of Veto Keeps Picus’ Study Plan Alive : Warner Ridge: Bradley had eliminated funds for an environmental review, saying the city should consider a compromise with the developer.

Amid heavy lobbying, the Los Angeles City Council swept aside a mayoral veto to revive Councilwoman Joy Picus’ effort to block the commercial development of Warner Ridge in Woodland Hills.

The council voted 11 to 2 Friday to override Mayor Tom Bradley’s veto of a $250,000 project to study the effect of a Picus-backed amendment to the Warner Ridge community plan that would allow only single-family residences on the 21.5-acre site.

The developer wants to build several medium-rise office towers, and possibly as many as 350 residential units, something that would be allowed under the current plan. But homeowner groups oppose that plan and Picus has sided with them in an attempt to amend the plan and block commercial development.

Picus asked for the money to study changing the plan, but Bradley had vetoed the allocation, saying the city should consider a compromise with the developer.

It is still unclear, however, whether the environmental review can be conducted in time to checkmate the developer. “Only a few people in the city attorney’s office think this can be done in four months,” said Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani.

A judge has given the city until Dec. 21 to make the plan conform to the current zoning in the area, which is for residential development. If the plan is not brought into conformity, the developer will be in a more powerful position to achieve its goals.

Despite her victory, Picus angrily denounced Bradley’s role in the Warner Ridge matter, claiming he “poured on all the steam” to lobby council members to sustain his veto.

Three lawmakers confirmed for The Times that they were lobbied by the mayor. But each asked not to be identified. One of the lawmakers also said he was heavily lobbied by Picus. “Oh, God, did she lobby? It was a do-or-die situation for her,” said one of the three.

Picus was angry enough to give reporters a document purporting to show that the developer had contributed $11,000 in campaign funds to Bradley since December, 1988.

Referring to the Picus campaign contribution innuendoes, Fabiani said: “When Mrs. Picus can’t win by logic or argument, she sadly resorts to personal attacks on the mayor; these allegations don’t deserve a response.”

Homeowner chief Robert Gross, like Picus, was happy about the victory but bitter that the mayor’s veto had caused a 15-day delay in starting the environmental study.

“The net result of the mayor’s veto is that we lost 15 days of valuable time,” said Gross, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization.

Time is important to Picus’ efforts to block the plans of partners The Spound Co. and Johnson Wax Development Co. to build a major commercial project on the Warner Ridge site.

In late July, Superior Judge John R. Zebrowski gave the city until late December to bring its zoning and community plan for Warner Ridge into conformity.

It often takes a year to amend the city’s community plans.

Warner Ridge developer Albert Spound said he was disappointed by the council’s action and pledged to continue with a lawsuit against the city filed by the development team. The suit, filed last April, complains that the city--and especially Picus--is seeking to deprive the developer of its property rights.

“Picus made the land commercial, we bought it because it was commercial and now she has tried to pull the rug out from under us,” Spound said. “Thank God for the court system.” In the lawsuit, Picus is accused of flip-flopping on her support of the commercial development of Warner Ridge as powerful homeowner groups threatened to withdraw their support for her before her 1989 reelection campaign.

In January, the council voted to reject the developer’s commercial project, which Picus said would inundate Woodland Hills with traffic and smog, and to zone the property for low-density housing.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky was Picus’ principal ally in arguing for an override. Yaroslavsky, in an interview later, said lawmakers saw the Warner Ridge matter as a classic test between developers and the city. “If developers think they can go into court and get the zoning they need to override the council . . . then there’ll be no end to the challenges,” Yaroslavsky warned. “This isn’t just about Warner Ridge, it’s about all neighborhoods.”