COMMENTARY : Supervisors to Rule on La Vina Housing Plan

A public hearing before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on the controversial La Vina residential housing development in the Angeles National Forest is set for Thursday.

The development could set an unfortunate precedent marking increased urbanization of the forest.

The La Vina Project, proposed by the development conglomerate Southwest Diversified (a Canadian-owned firm with offices in Newport Beach), would transform the historic LaVina Sanatorium site in northwest Altadena into a gated community of more than 200 private residences and a private school.

Located almost entirely within the boundaries of Angeles National Forest, the site’s development would foreclose forever the opportunity to bring this land into public ownership to help meet the recreational needs of the urban area.

Not since the 1950s, when the neighboring Meadows project was developed on a mesa immediately west of the La Vina site, has the forest seen such an intensive development. Unlike the Meadows, however, the La Vina development would involve massive earth-moving and destruction of natural habitat.

Beyond this loss, however, private development of the La Vina site would represent a potentially ominous trend that cumulatively threatens the very integrity of the Angeles National Forest as a major recreation resource for the greater Los Angeles area.

It is no secret that the Angeles is a stressed forest, with overuse, traffic congestion, smog, water pollution and conflict among user groups a daily occurrence. The forest is badly in need of additional “breathing room” if it is to meet the needs of Southern California in the 21st Century.

La Vina is but one of many privately-owned inholdings along the southern flank of the Angeles Forest that have potential for urban development. In the Altadena area alone, several inholdings east of La Vina could, with county approval, result in the “Glendalization” of the entire foothill area.

Unfortunately, neither county planners nor the Forest Service are prepared to deal with this eventuality.

The county reacted to the La Vina Project by sidestepping the Altadena Community Plan, developed by the citizens of Altadena, and enacting the La Vina Specific Plan, which more than doubles the permitted housing density.

County planners saw nothing wrong with grading a million and a half cubic yards of earth, filling in natural stream courses, destroying 200 native oaks, and violating the county’s General Plan, which states that non-urban residential development on private lands within the National Forest should be limited to one dwelling unit per five acres.

The Forest Service has reacted to the La Vina proposal by basically ignoring it. The Forest Service comments consist of one page dated Sept. 1, 1991, which briefly mentions only three concerns: potential sedimentation downstream from the project, loss of wildlife habitat, and the need for adequate roads and water for fire suppression.

Surprisingly, the Forest Service makes no mention of the project’s impact on riparian habitat or lost recreational opportunities. Perhaps this is because the developer offered, but the Forest Service declined to accept, dedication of the entire 110-acre Millard Canyon portion of the site to the Forest Service for public use. The Forest Service justified its action by saying that the lower 55 acres, which include magnificent riparian habitat, would be “administratively difficult to manage.”

As a direct consequence, the developer has agreed to dedicate the entire 110-acre Millard Canyon area, which is too steep-sided for development, to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, if the development is approved. It is hard to understand why the Forest Service, based in Arcadia, thinks that the conservancy, based in Malibu, is the more appropriate management agency.

Currently, the Forest Service has neither the will, nor has it committed the resources, to identify, let alone evaluate, the cumulative impacts of all the urban developments impinging on the Angeles Forest. Chronic budget and staff shortages plague the Angeles Forest, rendering it impotent against the onslaught of urban encroachments.

Responding to the Forest Service’s inaction, the Forest Preservation Society, an organization of inholders based in Glendale, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in July to seek a court order directing the agency to comply with Forest Service regulations on review and evaluation of urban development proposals in accord with the forest’s Land and Resource Management Plan.

The fate of La Vina and other forest development proposals lies in the hands of the County Board of Supervisors. If you are concerned about recreation opportunities for the large and increasing population of Southern California, contact the supervisors before Thursday.