ELECTIONS / CITY COUNCIL : Contenders Line Up in Bids to Oust 2 Veterans : Zev Yaroslavsky braces for a tough challenge from slow-growth advocate Laura Lake. In the 11th District, five seek to replace Marvin Braude.

While attention is focused on the most wide-open race for mayor of Los Angeles in many years, a potentially bitter City Council rematch is in the offing between longtime Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and slow-growth advocate Laura Lake.

Meanwhile, veteran Councilman Marvin Braude, who coasted to reelection four years ago when no challenger stepped forward, may face several opponents this time around.

The outline of the council contests became clear Monday--the deadline for candidates to declare their intention to run in the April 20 election. The final lineup will not be known until next month, when candidates must submit nominating petitions and pay filing fees.

But at this point, it is clear that Yaroslavsky, a well-known and powerful councilman, will face another spirited challenge from Lake, a UCLA environmental sciences professor and outspoken advocate of slow growth.

The once-a-decade process of redrawing political lines to reflect changes in population has meant significant changes in the shape of council districts.

The boundaries of Yaroslavsky’s realigned 5th District have been pushed farther out into the San Fernando Valley and into Westside neighborhoods he has not represented. As before, however, the district contains some of the city’s most affluent territory, including such communities as Westwood, Bel-Air, Fairfax, Sherman Oaks and part of Studio City.

With anti-incumbent sentiment still strong and the city suffering from a bewildering array of problems ranging from crime to a depressed economy, the five-term council veteran is leaving nothing to chance.

“I’m going to work hard and not take anything for granted,” Yaroslavsky, 44, said in an interview. He said he will walk precincts and get acquainted with new constituents.

Because of the troubled local economy, Yaroslavsky said, he thinks that Lake has “a much tougher mountain to climb” in her second race against him.

Four years ago, Yaroslavsky captured 62.6% of the vote in his win over Lake. “I think I have a broad base of support,” he said.

To bolster the case, he has distributed a long list of endorsements from elected officials, law enforcement representatives, environmentalists, homeowner associations, women’s groups and business interests.

But Lake said voters are hungry for change at City Hall. “Our city is in terrible trouble,” she said. “It is in critical condition.”

She said she hopes to tap the same wave of support for women candidates that helped propel Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to the U. S. Senate in November.

Lake questioned whether voters in the district think that the city is better off after Yaroslavsky’s nearly 18 years in office.

Echoing a theme from her first campaign--that overdevelopment has damaged the city’s quality of life--she said: “I feel the district has been plundered by special interests.”

The two candidates are already trading rhetorical potshots in the controversy over Fox Studios’ plan to expand its office and production facilities in Century City.

“The Fox debate is not about jobs,” Lake said at a public hearing earlier this month. “The real debate is about keeping this city livable.”

Lake, 45, said she supports developments that are planned so that the quality of life is not diminished. “The time for sacrificing the environment in the name of business is over,” she said. “It’s smart to invest in the environment and not ignore it.”

But Yaroslavsky, who favors a slightly scaled-down plan for Fox’s expansion, accused Lake of being willing to issue “an eviction notice for a major employer like Twentieth Century-Fox Studios.”

In a preview of the coming campaign, he said: “Part of the quality of life is an economic base.”

Two other candidates have filed declarations of intent to run against Yaroslavsky: Robert Neil Marcus, a Sherman Oaks attorney, and Michael Loren Rosenberg, a city building inspector from North Hollywood.

In the 11th District, Braude is seeking to extend his 28-year council career. Although Braude faced no opposition in 1989, five would-be challengers have declared their intentions to run this spring.

They are Daniel W. Pritikin, a family law practitioner from Los Angeles; Jerry Reid Douglas, a conservation district director from Woodland Hills; John B. Handal II, a restaurateur from Los Angeles; Patrick M. Blackburn, a West Los Angeles businessman, and Mary Lou Holte of Van Nuys.

The district includes Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and part of West Los Angeles on the Westside and extends across the Santa Monica Mountains to take in much of the western Valley from Van Nuys to Woodland Hills.