Developers to Pay for Warner Center Review : Woodland Hills: The City Council approves a $270,000 contribution from three firms planning projects in the area.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a deal to let three developers contribute $270,000 to pay for an expedited city review of their Warner Center projects and the planning blueprint for the area itself.

Testifying before the council, Robert Sutton, deputy director of planning, said the deal would “fast-track” the review of the Warner Center Specific Plan revision so it could be completed next month. City Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents the area, supported the measure.

City planners are rewriting the Warner Center Specific Plan after the city Planning Commission on Nov. 14 told them their first version permitted far too little development.

The arrangement was viewed skeptically by Councilmen Ernani Bernardi and Mike Hernandez. Both felt it would slow down work on projects in their districts.

“We’re having a problem getting planning done in my district,” Bernardi said. “And this looks like it’ll disrupt it more.”

But Sutton defended the arrangement, saying it would not take planning resources away from other projects. Rather, it prevents two planners from being laid off because of budget cuts, Sutton said.

Paying for the special review are the developer-owners of the May Centers, Promenade Mall and Blue Cross properties, Sutton said.

May Centers Inc. has plans for a $175-million expansion of its existing Topanga Plaza mall. The firm also has plans to develop a $625-million complex on land south of Victory Boulevard to include a hotel and seven 11-story office buildings.

JMB/Urban Development and Blue Cross are seeking city approvals for eight office buildings from 10 to 26 stories high. This $600-million project would add 2.2 million square feet of office space to the 1,100-acre regional center.

Promenade Mall, another shopping center, is proposing a $290-million expansion of its existing development in Warner Center. Its plans call for adding three office buildings and two department stores.

The developer-owners’ monetary contributions will also help pay for city reviews of the separate environmental impacts of each of the three developers’ specific projects, Sutton said. The city has been sharply criticized in the past by the real estate industry for failing to quickly process environmental documents on major projects.

But only in the huge Playa Vista project in Marina del Rey has a developer in the city of Los Angeles underwritten the cost of a special planning team to speed the review of their project.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who represents Playa Vista, also rose to defend such arrangements. They ensure that the city “does not scrimp on its review” of these major, sensitive projects, she said.