L.A. to Pay $135,000 for Warner Ridge Study
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday authorized paying a private contractor $135,000 to study the environmental effects of building a large-scale, mixed-use project on the controversial Warner Ridge site.
Casting the sole dissenting vote against the expenditure was Councilwoman Joy Picus, a foe of the project. The study, to be conducted by Engineering Technology Inc., will look at the effect of building 690,000 square feet of commercial development and 125 condominiums.
The project is the same one approved by the council in January to settle a bitterly fought and costly lawsuit brought by Warner Ridge Associates, the owners, which claimed the city had illegally tried to block their development plans by rezoning the property for residential development.
After losing key decisions in the litigation, the city agreed to settle.
In 1990, the city spent $200,000 to hire Engineering Technology to do an environmental review analyzing the effect of building 65 single-family homes at Warner Ridge. The review was sought by the city as it tried to bolster its arguments for zoning the property for residential use.
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