Picus Calls Warner Center Growth Plan Incompatible : Development: The councilwoman says she is not sure that the area can accommodate nearly double the square footage in commercial and retail space.

An ambitious plan to nearly double commercial space in Warner Center depends on elaborate street improvements that would undermine the pleasant suburban atmosphere of the area, Councilwoman Joy Picus said Wednesday.

Picus--who represents the area and whose attitude toward expansion could be crucial to the plan’s future--told a citizens committee reviewing the plan that she is unsure that Warner Center can sustain the 26 million square feet of office space proposed in the plan, an increase of 12 million from the current 14 million.

“I don’t want to see another Century City here in Warner Center,” Picus said.

Picus suggested that after Warner Center reaches 20 million square feet of office space, the area’s plan be reviewed by the public, not just Los Angeles city planners, to see if further growth is tolerable.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Planning Department unveiled a blueprint for development that called for a massive expansion of Warner Center, commercial hub of the west San Fernando Valley, that would create 35,000 jobs, enough workers to populate a city the size of Monrovia. The plan calls for 18 high-rises and the expansion of two malls, Promenade and Topanga Plaza.

The plan predicts that $1.3 billion will be needed to finance road improvements to support the growth. Under the plan, Victory and Topanga Canyon boulevards would become elevated streets--with local traffic on lower levels and through traffic on the upper ones--and new Ventura Freeway interchanges would be built at Topanga Canyon, Canoga Avenue and Fallbrook Avenue.

Picus said such large-scale road projects were incompatible with the area. Picus said she wants to preserve the unique character of Warner Center, which she described as an urban complex that now blends well with the surrounding suburban neighborhoods.

“I want to tie Warner Center into our community values,” she told about 50 business people, homeowners and committee members packed into a small meeting room at Warner Center.

Any attempts to scale down the proposed Warner Center plan by Picus, homeowners or the business community would come in the wake of an unusually tough speech by Mayor Tom Bradley on July 18, urging city planners to resist special-interest lobbying by homeowner groups bent on scuttling all development projects.

Bradley called the no-growth philosophy a “bankrupt idea” and endorsed “balanced growth” that would weigh local concerns with the planning needs of the entire city.

“We have given in too much to political whims,” Melanie Fallon, acting planning director, said after Bradley’s remarks. “The mayor’s speech will make it easier for us to say no.”

But Picus said Wednesday that civic groups must and will continue to play a large role in guiding development.

“The mayor’s remarks puzzle me no end,” she said in an interview, saying that planning cannot be left to “ivory tower academicians.”

“It is a political process, and I can’t believe he’d deny it’s a political process,” Picus said of Bradley. “It’s the most political process we do.”

The Planning Department will hold a workshop to discuss the Warner Center plan with the public at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 21 at Parkman Junior High School in Woodland Hills. A public hearing will also be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 28 at Parkman.

After the hearing, the Planning Department will draft a final plan and present it to the Planning Commission. After that, the issue will be up to the City Council.