Council Grants Building Rights to Settle Lawsuit : Woodland Hills: The agreement will allow a multiple-family home development. It is the first of three Warner Ridge-inspired cases to be filed against L.A.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday agreed to grant major new building rights to a Woodland Hills developer to settle a $2.5-million lawsuit.

The council’s decision is part of the continuing fallout from the Warner Ridge case, in which a developer successfully sued the city by arguing that his Woodland Hills property had been improperly zoned by the council to block his project.

The council had zoned the Warner Ridge property for residential use even though the city’s community plan for the area designated it for commercial use. A judge ruled that the community plan prevailed.

Voting 8 to 2 in executive session Wednesday,the council agreed to begin negotiations to allow zoning on a 7.5-acre parcel owned by Khanbaba Nourmand so that it is consistent with the community plan, according to Councilwoman Joy Picus. In October, under Picus’ leadership, the council denied Nourmand’s request for zoning that would have allowed him to build 95 condominiums on his hilly property at 22210 Philiprimm St. in Woodland Hills.

The council ignored the local community plan, which allowed multiple-family development on the site, and left Nourmand with single-family residential zoning that permitted only about 25 houses.

Nourmand sued on Jan. 2, relying heavily on a state Court of Appeal panel’s December ruling in the Warner Ridge case.

Fred Gaines, attorney for Nourmand’s project, said news of the city’s readiness to negotiate was welcome but not surprising. “It’s the same issue as Warner Ridge,” he said. “The city refused to give us the zoning my client was entitled to.”

The Nourmand lawsuit was the first of three Warner Ridge-inspired cases to be filed against the city by disappointed developers.

The other piggyback cases involve a single-family housing project in Sunland and property in Universal City owned by MCA Inc., the entertainment giant.

Picus and Councilman Joel Wachs voted against the motion that was approved Wednesday. Picus said she still believes a multiple-family project on the Philiprimm site would be inappropriate.

“This is a property surrounded by larger-than-normal single-family home lots and the streets are very narrow and cannot begin to handle the traffic for the developer’s proposed project,” she said.

The negotiations now will focus on which zoning to grant Nourmand.

The community plan would allow a range from a low of 30 duplexes to a high of 109 condominiums.

Gaines said the city should grant his client the larger number of units because such a project would be more compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

The low-end zoning would allow a 30-duplex development but would not allow for clustering the structures in order to leave open space, the attorney said.

A better option would be a condominium development in the 90- to 100-unit range that would allow clustering of the condos on the east side of the property, facing other large condo and apartment projects on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Gaines said.