Long-Sought Expansion of Fox Studio Backed by Key Council Panel : Land use: Company trims plan slightly and agrees to make $5 million in road improvements. Full council to act next week.

After three years of public scrutiny and intense opposition from some of its Westside neighbors, Fox Studio’s proposed $200-million expansion cleared a key hurdle Wednesday by winning the support of a Los Angeles City Council committee.

By a 2-0 vote, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee gave its blessing to the project, clearing the way for the full City Council to consider it next Wednesday.

“We’ve come a long way, we’re pleased and we’re looking forward to the final leg,” said David Handelman, a Fox vice president.

The plan approved Wednesday is virtually identical to a compromise worked out last week between studio officials and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, in whose 5th District the venerable Century City studio is located.

As part of the arrangement, Fox will trim 50,000 square feet from the 771,000 square feet of office and production facilities it wants to build. The studio will drop its demand that it be allowed to build a future third phase without the need of additional city environmental reviews.

In addition, Fox is to pay $5 million for road and street improvements in the Century City area and $500,000 for speed bumps and other traffic improvements in residential neighborhoods.

The studio, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, wants to consolidate its movie and television operations, including KTTV-TV--now in Hollywood--and 20th Century Fox Film Corp. on the 53-acre parcel, creating a 1.9-million-square-foot facility.

Fox needs city approval to pursue the plan and extricate itself from a commitment to build 2,200 condominiums on part of the land.

On Wednesday, committee Chairman Hal Bernson and Councilwoman Ruth Galanter voted to recommend approval. Councilman Nate Holden abstained.

Critics expressed displeasure with Wednesday’s outcome, saying the expansion would generate traffic and further clog streets in the Cheviot Hills area south of the studio.

“It’s a prescription for urban decay,” said Val Cole, president of the California Country Club Homes Assn.

But opponents were far outnumbered by more than 200 residents who live near the studio and offered support for Fox at the three-hour committee hearing.

“This has been the most over-regulated project in the history of the human race,” said John Klein, who heads Friends of Fox. “The vast majority of people around the studio like Fox and want it to stay.”

The city Planning Commission on April 1 gave the studio virtually everything it had requested after studio officials said the expansion would create 1,600 jobs.

Although traffic from the studio’s gates still would more than double under the conditions approved Wednesday, several elements of the plan are designed to make it more acceptable to critics.

As recommended by the panel, Fox will be required to convert 50,000 square feet of planned office space to production space, which would generate less traffic. The other 100,000 square feet of office space trimmed from the project may be added to the third phase of the development, but only if strict guidelines are met.

The arrangement allows Fox to complete the project in phases within certain limits on the amount of traffic each phase generates, with vehicles entering the studio counted electronically. Fox would be subject to fines and would not be allowed to proceed to the next phase if the limits were exceeded.

In addition, the plan restricts building heights along Avenue of the Stars to five stories, compared to seven stories allowed by the Planning Commission.