Planning Panel OKs Gateway Plaza Project : Woodland Hills: An appeal by homeowners was rejected for the towers at Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission set aside objections from the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization on Thursday and approved construction of Gateway Plaza, a major Ventura Boulevard complex consisting of three office towers ranging from 10 to 13 stories tall.

Three commissioners unanimously voted against an appeal filed by the homeowner organization, which was not represented at the meeting at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club.

“It was determined by the commission and the City Council that 750,000 square feet was appropriate for being a gateway to Warner Center as well as being adjacent to freeway on-ramps,” commission Vice President Theodore Stein Jr. said.

Commissioner Suzette Neiman said, “Given the past history, I don’t know how to come to any other decision.”

The project had previously been approved by the commission and the council, but the homeowner group appealed on the grounds that the project’s environmental impact report was inadequate.

Under the plan proposed by Ventura & Topanga Partners, two 13-story office buildings and one 10-story building with a six-story parking structure would be built on a 7.8-acre site at Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards.

The project has pitted the community against the city and developers for more than a decade.

The homeowner group fears that the large complex would increase traffic and noise in the area, and that it would harm local retailers by eliminating street parking.

“Traffic on Ventura Boulevard will be as dense as on the Ventura Freeway itself,” Gordon Murley, executive vice president for the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, said in a phone interview. “And sound will reflect from the tall buildings, which will be a problem for residents.”

The homeowner organization would like to “keep the neighborhood similar in scope to what is there now. If there are office buildings, six stories should be the maximum,” he said.

Small businesses--including a pharmacy, pet store, barber shop, restaurant, cleaners, clothing store and a bank--now occupy the property.

Although the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan limits building heights to three stories, this project is exempt because it was proposed in 1982, before the plan was approved.

Murley said his group plans to continue fighting the project, with a lawsuit if necessary.