STUDIO CITY : Plans for 12-Story Garage Advance

Universal Studios has received a tentative nod from the Los Angeles Planning Department to move forward with plans for 12-story parking garage in Studio City, a city planning official said Thursday.

In issuing the ruling, the department’s Environmental Staff Advisory Committee determined that any negative environmental impact associated with the 1 million-square-foot development could be corrected with relative ease and that the project could forgo a more rigorous environmental impact report.

“Environmental (approval) is difficult in many cases, especially with a project this big,” City Planning Associate Tom Rath said. “It’s a significant step.”

Members of the Studio City Residents Assn., first informed about the project Thursday by Rath, expressed shock and anger over the garage proposed for an area northeast of the Hollywood Freeway between Lankershim Boulevard and Universal City Drive.

“I am shocked that the association did not know about this,” said Polly Ward, member and former president of the association. “No one bothered to tell us.”

Ward, also a member of the MCA Citizens Advisory Board, said she is dumbfounded at not having heard of the project.

“You start talking about a 14-story structure, and you’d think the residents would know about it,” she said.

Universal Studios officials were not available for comment.

“Everybody was kind of . . . surprised, shall we say, at the scale of the project,” Rath said.

Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said that he would request a full environmental impact report.

A public hearing before a zoning administrator is required for the project. No date has been set.