The Ridge Will Go in Building Plan for Warner Ridge : Woodland Hills: The hill would be sliced down to make way for five office towers on the21.5-acre site. Planners release a report giving project details.

The first thing the Warner Ridge project will do is get rid of the ridge.

The distinctive little hill in Woodland Hills that gives the site its name will be bulldozed to a nub of its former self to make room for the project’s five office towers, according to an environmental impact report made public Friday by Los Angeles city planners.

The report reveals details of a $200-million mixed-use project, which the owners of the 21.5-acre site gained the right to build when they won a long, bitter court battle with the city.

The 261-page draft environmental report was prepared by a consultant for the city Planning Department.

The project’s environmental impacts are much like those identified in the late 1980s when the owners--Warner Ridge Associates--proposed a somewhat similar development, city officials noted.

The earlier project--an 810,000-square-foot office complex--was torpedoed in 1990 by Councilwoman Joy Picus, who joined Woodland Hills homeowners who wanted the owners restricted to building no more than a 65-house subdivision on the site.

The owners subsequently sued. After a series of judges ruled against the city’s legal arguments, the city in January abandoned hope of winning the suit and a settlement was reached.

Jack Spound, the leading figure in Warner Ridge Associates, said Friday that he hopes to break ground on the first phase of the development early next year. “We don’t have a tenant yet, but we’re negotiating with several prospects,” Spound said.

The development firm is made up of the Spound Cos. and Johnson Wax Development Co.

The current project calls for 671,000 square feet of office development, 19,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and two five-story parking garages, all built on the northern three-fourths of the site east of De Soto Avenue.

Businesses in the complex will create 2,843 jobs, the report estimated.

Of the five office towers, three will be seven stories tall and two will be six stories, according to the environmental report.

On the remaining 25% of the property, bounded on the south by Oxnard Street, the developer plans to build three three-story condominium buildings containing 125 units.

But the ridge that gives the site its name would be no more, according to the report. The gently sloping hill, rising at its highest to about 120 feet above surrounding street levels, would lose about two-thirds of its height to grading.

Most of the graded material--about 410,000 cubic yards--is to be spread across pasture land at neighboring Pierce College, the report said.

The total project, to be built in two phases, will generate 6,630 vehicle trips per day and have a significant effect on traffic at a dozen nearby intersections, the report said.

But the report said the effect would be reduced to an “acceptable level” by plans to computerize traffic signals at seven intersections, street improvements at nine locations and by ride-sharing programs among the workers in the project.

Bob Gross, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization that has been a determined opponent of the project, said Friday that his group plans to go over the environmental report “with a fine-toothed comb looking for every opportunity we can to challenge its validity.”

Gross predicted that the homeowners would sue to block the city’s settlement agreement authorizing the project. “The timing, the place, the who, the how, the when and the where are still being developed,” he said. “But part of the challenge is likely to be over” the environmental impact report.

Gross said he believed that the attempts to mitigate the project’s effect on traffic would be its environmental weakness.

Proposed Warner Ridge Project Phase 1

No. of Dwelling Bldg. Floors Units Sq. Feet Parking D Parking 5 1,812 D Restaurant 6,000 D Retail 13,000 E Office 7 138,000 F Office 7 119,000 G Office 7 138,000 25 Total 414,000 1,837

Phase 2

No. of Dwelling Bldg. Floors Units Sq. Feet Parking A Office 6 138,000 B Office 6 138,000 C Parking 5 719 H,I,J Residential 3 125 313 Total 125 276,000 1,032