Developers Win Support-and Some Skepticism : Companies Hoping to Build on La Vina Site Adopt a Good-Neighbor Policy, but Opponents Are Wary

What do you call a developer who throws picnics for the public, gives pony rides to children, adopts two schools, promises jobs for the disadvantaged and pledges up to $150,000 to rebuild a town hall?

In Altadena, opinions vary.

Members of the local branches of the NAACP and Urban League say “caring.” And as a result, the two groups are backing a 272-home subdivision proposed by builders Southwest Diversified and Cantwell-Anderson.

But members of the neighborhood group opposing the subdivision say “slick.” They view the builders’ largess as a cynical manipulation of community opinion that diverts attention from the real issue--the desecration of the wooded foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The debate over the developers’ motives has often distracted attention from discussion of the development itself. The question of whether it should be built is set to return to center stage Wednesday when the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the project.

At issue is whether 220 acres at the north end of Lincoln Avenue--once the home of the La Vina tuberculosis sanitarium--should be subdivided to allow development of the homes, along with a private school for up to 500 students. A permit to remove or transplant 244 oak trees from the land is also pending.

If approved, the project will face a final vote before the County Board of Supervisors within two months. But the final word on the project may be left to the Los Angeles Superior Court--where a lawsuit by opponents is pending. The suit claims that the project received an inadequate environmental review.

The dispute has brought unusual discord to Altadena, an ethnically mixed community of 42,000 where civic leaders have prided themselves on resolving disputes amicably. Five years of haggling over the La Vina project has strained old friendships and spurred charges by both sides that the issue of race has been unfairly injected into the dispute.

Such dissension could not have been anticipated when the project was first brought forward nearly four years ago. Nearly everyone hated the idea.

At a 1988 Planning Commission hearing on the proposal, most of the 120 Altadenans in attendance said the development--then proposed as 360 houses and townhomes and the school--was too big for the wooded hillside section of their community. Many also criticized it for offering nothing to help the disadvantaged, mostly minority neighborhoods in the flatlands below.

“Clearly, that was an indication to us that we were headed down the wrong path,” said Andrew Oliver, an Altadena resident and Southwest Diversified’s project manager. “There were issues we had not addressed. After that, we realized we had to pay more attention to community feeling and input.”

Shortly after the Planning Commission hearing, the developers’ new course began with an open house on the La Vina property, which included a barbecue and children’s pony rides.

Oliver said the event was a chance for the developers to correct misconceptions about the project, including a rumor that rustic Millard Canyon would be partially filled.

The developers also redrew their plans to call for 272 single-family homes and no townhouses. They launched a newsletter, “Looking Forward,” to deliver their message to neighbors at least four times a year--at $3,000 per mailing. They offered to donate as much as $150,000 to restore Hawkins House, a Victorian home that the community plans to convert into a town hall.

They “adopted” John Muir High School and Longfellow Elementary School. Muir received free assistance in drawing a plan to restore dilapidated buildings. Longfellow got a television, a VCR and calculators.

The builders also made sure that residents who turned in their favor got free bus rides to important county hearings on the development. Breakfast or lunch, or both, usually came with the ride.

The centerpiece of the developers’ efforts, however, became the La Vina Economic and Employment Development Program.

The developers have agreed to spend $200,000 to launch the program, contingent on the project’s approval. The program will provide counseling for Altadena residents with impediments to employment, such as alcohol and drug habits.

It will offer training at Pasadena City College so applicants can learn skills for entry-level jobs assisting carpenters, plumbers and electricians. And it will encourage the contractors hired for La Vina and other San Gabriel Valley projects to hire the employees from a computerized list the employment program will maintain.

The programs don’t guarantee jobs--just the chance to compete for them.

Anthony Stewart, president of the Altadena branch of the NAACP, said she trusts the developers.

“So many companies come into the minority communities and milk our communities for everything they are worth, and then take the money and go elsewhere with it,” Stewart said. “We felt we had a responsibility to look out for jobs and advancement for our people.”

But opponents doubt the employment program will work. They predict that large contractors from outside Altadena will get most of the work and bring their own employees with them. If locals are hired, they predict, it will be only into low-skill jobs that will not prepare them for employment after La Vina.

“These big contractors aren’t going to be held to any hiring goals,” said Francis Crunk, a member of the opposition group. “Only the gofer work will be left over for the local minority people.”

The opposition group, calling itself Friends of La Vina (a reference to the old sanitarium, not the new development), says the jobs program could go ahead even if the project was reduced by half.

They say the jobs program, and the rest of the enticements, were conceived because the project could not stand on its own.

“They are putting some things that are good, like motherhood and apple pie, on a bad project,” said Adolfo Miralles, a prominent local architect who is leading the opposition. “It you oppose the project, you have to oppose some things that might be good.”

Scoffing at claims that the developers were relying on slick public relations, Oliver said: “You can’t bribe someone with a hot dog and a bus ride.”

The civil rights activists say the protests have delayed construction, and the jobs program, long enough.

Stewart wrote a letter to Miralles, saying that his “selfish” opposition to the subdivision “. . . interferes with the livelihood of hundreds of the minority residents of Altadena.”

Dorothy Martin, a black woman who opposes the project, counters: “The developers brought in a racial issue, and I really resent that.”

Oliver denies that, saying, “It’s preposterous.”

On one point, both sides agree: none of five subsequent hearings before county officials have had the flavor of the first one in 1988. The developers now are able to turn out supporters in strength, most recently at a Planning Commission hearing in October that featured four busloads of supporters wearing pink “Yes! La Vina” buttons.

But the sides disagree on what the crowds of supporters prove.

Opponents say it shows that some people can be manipulated by favors and promises. “I can’t believe anyone would be swayed by that,” said Altadena resident Steve Slobin.

Supporters say they are coming out to back a developer who wants to help them. Said John McCall, a former town council member who has been among the project’s strongest backers: “It’s something we have been waiting for for a long, long time from a developer.”

How the Project’s Developers Built Local Support for Plan

The developers of a proposed housing project in Altadena faced almost unanimous opposition when they presented their plans three years ago. Since then, they have sponsored or proposed an array of programs designed in part to gain community backing.

The developers say their efforts could serve as a model for community involvement in major building projects. But opponents describe the programs as a cynical attempt to buy support.

The builders have already:

* Adopted two schools--John Muir High School and Longfellow Elementary School. Muir received free assistance in drawing a plan to restore dilapidated buildings. Longfellow got a television, VCR and calculators.

* Held open house breakfasts and barbecues--one complete with pony rides for children--to promote the housing project.

* Bused dozens of supporters to crucial hearings before the county Regional Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

If their project is approved by the county, the developers promise to:

* Train disadvantaged community members for entry-level construction jobs on the project.

* Maintain a database of qualified employees residing in the community and request contractors to hire some of them.

* Conduct seminars with local contractors to help them compete for some of the work on the project.

* Contribute $50,000 for restoration of the historic Hawkins House, which residents of unincorporated Altadena want to convert into a town hall. Up to $100,000 more will be donated if local groups can raise matching funds.