SUNLAND : Extension Given for Golf Course Project

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to give developers of a proposed golf course in Big Tujunga Wash a six-month extension on the project to settle environmental concerns raised by state and federal wildlife officials.

The extension is the third continuance granted in the past year to Cosmo World Corp., which has been working for six years to build the golf course on 355 acres it owns in the wash in Sunland.

The primary reason for the delay has been the presence of a small, endangered plant in the wash, called the slender-horned spineflower.

Cosmo has been meeting with state and federal wildlife officials to reach an agreement on how to build the project without destroying too much of the plant’s habitat.

A supervisor for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service said all parties are still working to reach an agreement on the project and are likely to complete the negotiations soon. But he declined to elaborate.

Arline DeSanctis, a planning deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the Sunland area, said the six-month extension will be the last to be granted by the city. If an agreement is not reached by the end of the six months, she said the project will probably be scuttled.