ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : Picus, Chick Swap Attacks Over Support for Developers : The candidates in the 3rd District accuse each other of unresponsiveness to homeowners as the campaign enters its final days.

Development is a dirty word in the largely suburban southwest San Fernando Valley, where proud homeowners tend mile after mile of ranch houses.

So, naturally, with the City Council election in the 3rd District less than a week away, the incumbent councilwoman and her challenger spent Wednesday accusing each other of being in league with developers and unresponsive to homeowners.

Challenger Laura Chick, a former aide to incumbent Joy Picus, fired the first round at a news conference she held at the foot of the controversial Warner Ridge office project in Woodland Hills.

Responding to Picus’ portrayal of Chick’s supporters as “real estate heavies” in a recent campaign flier, Chick convened a group of 11 community activists who accused Picus of mishandling a series of developments, including the Reseda specific plan, several church projects and the 690,000-square-foot Warner Ridge development, which ended in a court victory for developers.

Although Picus sided with homeowners during the long dispute over the Warner Ridge project, Chick and her supporters hold her responsible for ultimately failing to stop the development. Chick also has repeatedly trumpeted the fact that Picus has taken more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from City Hall lobbyists and developers since she was first elected in 1977.

“Joy Picus has neglected her responsibility to our communities in order to avoid political controversy,” said Chick, “She cannot be trusted to do what’s best for our neighborhoods. She is unresponsive and divisive.”

Picus retorted in a telephone interview that Chick is purposely distorting her record to win votes. She pointed out that Chick, not she, received the maximum contribution of $500 allowable under campaign finance laws from lobbyists for the Warner Ridge project. Picus also said Chick has been heavily funded by lawyers, lobbyists and real estate developers.

“Laura engages in revisionist history,” Picus said. “When she loses, she should go into that as a career.”

The sharper focus on development came six days before Tuesday’s runoff election between Picus, 62, and Chick, 48.

“It’s a very close race,” said Bill Carrick, Picus’ campaign consultant. “The homeowners as a voting block are decisive.”

One clear difference between the two candidates emerged from their squabble Wednesday. Picus generally supports allowing churches and schools to locate in residential neighborhoods, regarding them as positive assets to communities. In some cases, including one involving the West Valley Christian Church in West Hills, she has urged residents to compromise with church officials about the size of the facility, despite neighbors’ concerns about church traffic.

On the other hand, Chick has indicated she would be more receptive to rejecting such developments because of residents’ concerns.

Chick’s supporters also accused Picus of failing to take a leadership role in the development of a specific plan for Reseda. Various plans for shaping development there have been debated during the past five years, and the City Council is expected to adopt a final version this summer.

In the meantime, an interim ordinance that virtually froze new development there has expired, sparking concern that some undesirable businesses will slip in before the final plan is approved.

“We’ve got three months in which anything from a red-light district to another auto repair shop can move in,” said Lew Bickerton, a Reseda resident for 45 years. “And Joy has totally ignored this issue.”

But Jim Dawson, Picus’ planning deputy, said no new project could be pushed through in that short a time. He expressed regret over the lengthy planning process, but blamed it on city planners who revised an early version of the plan. Dawson also stressed that a pawnshop, which recently opened there despite residents’ opposition, would not have been prohibited under either the new specific plan or the interim ordinance because it was moved into an existing building.

Chick said that if elected, she would establish neighborhood planning councils to expedite negotiations between developers and residents.