Panel Accepts Builder’s Offer of 23-Acre Site for Sylmar Park

A Los Angeles City Council panel voted 4 to 0 Tuesday to accept a developer’s plan to give the city 23 acres for a future park in Sylmar in lieu of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in park fees.

David Mays, chief deputy to Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents the area, said the land grant by Kaufman & Broad of Southern California will be a major addition to the recreational resources in rapidly growing Sylmar.

“This area really needs parks,” Mays said.

Kaufman & Broad--one of Southern California’s largest housing developers--offered the land as it seeks city approval of its Carey Ranch project and tries to satisfy the Quimby Act, a state law that requires developers to help fund park development. The vote was taken by the council’s Board of Referred Powers.

The developer plans to build 277 single-family houses on 100 acres of rolling hills just east of the interchange of the San Diego and Golden State freeways.

Alonzo Carmichael, a city Recreation and Parks Department official, said the value of the parkland granted to the city will exceed by nearly $500,000 the amount of fees Kaufman & Broad would have been assessed under the Quimby Act.

Carmichael said Kaufman & Broad would get credit equal to the surplus value on any future projects it builds.

The future park, which will be surrounded on three sides by the Carey Ranch project, will eventually contain 70 trees, baseball and soccer fields, and tennis and basketball courts.

As part of the agreement transferring title of the property to the city, Kaufman & Broad agreed to build some of the park improvements and to maintain the park’s landscaping for an unspecified period “to ensure proper growth of landscaping and ensure proper functioning” of other park improvements.