STUDIO CITY : Residents to Fight Proposed Garage

Studio City residents are gearing up for a fight against a 10-story Universal Studios parking garage proposed for a scenic area near the Hollywood Freeway, the president of a Studio City Residents Assn. said Friday.

“We are trying to garner all the support we can to oppose this project,” said Tony Lucente. “It’ll destroy the scenic corridor.”

Lucente said his association has joined forces with several other community organizations in the area in opposition to the garage proposed for an area northeast of the Hollywood Freeway between Lankershim Boulevard and Universal City Drive.

A public hearing before a city zoning administrator is set for June 14, during which officials from MCA, the parent company of Universal Studios, will request a variance allowing the garage to be built in an area that has residential zoning. MCA officials were not available for comment Friday.

Lucente said members from his group and others would request that the variance be denied.

“It’s just totally inappropriate,” he said. “And we are going to fight it.”

In April, the 10-story structure won conditional approval from the environmental section of the Planning Department, despite its location in the Mulholland Scenic Corridor, an area designated for preserving views. But members of the residents association, who said their group was not notified about plans for the garage until nearly a month after it was conditionally approved, have requested an environmental impact report on the 3,000-car garage which they contend would mar the neighborhood, add to traffic problems and create noise.

MCA officials have said they took proper steps to let residents know about the garage.