Builder, Foes at Standoff Over Project : Wilson Canyon: A scaled-down plan for 250 luxury houses fails to win over opponents of development in the scenic area.

Wilson Canyon, a woodland retreat above Sylmar, is the scene of a standoff between a developer who wants to build 250 houses on ridges overlooking the canyon and residents who want to preserve open space and equestrian trails.

Leading the charge for the homeowners is Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Sylmar resident and horse owner who enjoys riding with his wife in the canyon. He and other horse owners believe that the proposed housing development will threaten their access to riding trails in the San Gabriel Mountains.

“It’s one of the few spots like it in the north end” of the San Fernando Valley, said Katz, a Democrat. “When you live in the north Valley, it’s not like living in the Tehachapi Mountains, where there are hundreds of trails and a lot of places to go.”

Other residents say they do not want their view of the hillsides spoiled.

“People bought in Sylmar to look at the hills, not to look at rows of houses,” said Patty Hug, who is organizing opposition to the development. Residents are also concerned that the project will displace wildlife and will prevent the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy from completing the Rim of the Valley Trail that will eventually connect the mountain ranges surrounding the Valley.

The Wilson Canyon debate has been going on for four years as the developer and residents have struggled to work out their competing concerns. Now the issues focus on whether the land can be bought for a public park or annexed to the city of Los Angeles to clear the way for a new housing tract.

Development opponents, who formed a group called Save Wilson Canyon when the project was first proposed in 1987, had become inactive until recently, figuring that the developer had lost interest and that their fight was over.

But they revived their organization a few weeks ago when they learned that the developer, Altadena-based Cantwell-Anderson Inc., had drafted a new housing plan. As part of the proposal, the firm was seeking to annex the property, which is in unincorporated Los Angeles County, to the city.

“We’ve had to get out our T-shirts again,” said Hug, herself sporting a Save Wilson Canyon shirt as she rode her horse with friends through a shady grove of oak trees in the heart of the canyon. Hug said the group plans to circulate petitions and will continue its fight against the housing tract.

Peter Postlmayr, a Sylmar resident and Cantwell-Anderson’s manager of the Wilson Canyon development, said his company has worked hard and proceeded slowly with plans to try and accommodate those who want to preserve the canyon.

Postlmayr said he has attended more than 30 community meetings and has worked with the Sylmar Citizens Planning Advisory Committee, which has been meeting for almost two years to draft recommendations for the revision of the Sylmar general plan.

Cantwell-Anderson first proposed building a 500-house tract on ridges overlooking the canyon. The new plan calls for only 250 houses. About one-third of them will be designed for horse owners, with three-quarter-acre lots, access to horse trails and a price tag of between $400,000 and $500,000. Postlmayr said the houses will be “the crown jewel of Sylmar.”

The developer has agreed to donate 35% of its land for open space, parcels described as some of the most environmentally sensitive areas of Wilson Canyon. The developer also agreed to reconfigure the development, moving houses to flatter land to preserve scenic ridges.

Not all Sylmar residents are opposed to the development. Tom Ross, a homeowner who has attended some of the community meetings, believes that hillside development is inevitable and that Cantwell-Anderson has been willing to listen to the community.

“I feel that’s the lesser of two evils, when you could have somebody come in and plop down 800 condominiums in there,” Ross said.

Opponents said their best shot at blocking the project lies in fighting Cantwell-Anderson’s attempt to have the property annexed.

The developer is seeking annexation to make it easier and less costly to obtain fire, police and utility services. The land is far removed from county sheriff, fire and utility services. Also, it is uncertain whether Los Angeles County officials would approve the project because of the difficulty in providing vital services to the tract. The nearest county fire and sheriff’s stations are in Santa Clarita.

The annexation process involves about one year of public hearings and bureaucratic reviews, culminating in a vote by the City Council. The developer must then forward the application to the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission. If approved by LAFCO, the issue returns to the council for final action.

Postlmayr said the firm would consider building the project in the county if annexation fails. He plans to meet this week with Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents Sylmar, to seek support for both the project and annexation.

Bernardi remains uncommitted on the issues. Bernardi Chief Deputy David Mays said the councilman would not take any steps toward recommending annexation until he has seen a plan for the 250-house tract and has had an opportunity to talk with community members.

“We are not going to go forward with any action unless we find there is a consensus that this would be a project supported by the community of Sylmar and that preservation of Wilson Canyon is assured,” Mays said.

Since the project was first proposed, the community has hoped that the entire 225 acres could be sold to the state or a private foundation for parkland. But the two agencies interested--the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Trust for Public Lands, a nonprofit land preservation group--do not have the money to buy the land.

Julie Zeidner, a spokeswoman for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said that although money is a problem, the major stumbling block has been a dispute with the developer over the land’s assessed value.

“The conservancy is dedicated to preserving Wilson Canyon. We may try to acquire it in the future,” Zeidner said. “However, there has never been a willing seller at a reasonable price.”

The land has been appraised for the conservancy at between $6 million and $6.5 million, Zeidner said. The conservancy cannot pay more for the land under state law. Postlmayr refused to disclose the price that Cantwell-Anderson has asked for the land.

Last year, he said, the firm had agreed to sell 170 acres of the land to the Trust for Public Lands. He would not disclose the sale price.

The sale, however, was contingent on the passage in November of Proposition B, an $817-million county bond measure that would have provided the funds for the group to buy the land. When the proposition was defeated at the polls, the deal fell through.

Postlmayr said he is skeptical that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has the will to seriously pursue the purchase of Wilson Canyon.

“As time has passed, we’ve realized Wilson Canyon is not important enough either politically or environmentally for them to make it a fiscal priority,” he said. “They had the resources, but they chose to spend those resources elsewhere.

“It’s no problem for us to leave it as open space as long as there’s compensation.”

Katz has also expressed some frustration that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has not paid as much attention to Wilson Canyon as it has to areas such as Fryman Canyon in Studio City and Rustic Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. Part of the reason for the neglect may be Wilson Canyon’s location in a relatively modest community in the Valley, Katz said.

“Unlike Fryman Canyon, where all the big shots moved on their own, this is something we’re going to have to put pressure on them to move on,” Katz said. “Open space ought to be preserved because of its value as habitat, or its environmental value, not because it’s surrounded by rich people.”