WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Up to 190 Homes Sought in Project

Westlake Village’s land-use committee today will hear a tentative proposal by a developer to build as many as 190 homes on a 23-acre tract in an area north of the Ventura Freeway known as Westlake North.

The developer, Kaufman & Broad, is negotiating with the owner of the land, the Resolution Trust Corp., to purchase the land, said Bob Theobold, planning director for the city of Westlake Village.

The meeting will be at 2 p.m. in City Hall council chambers, 4373 Park Terrace Drive.

The 23-acre site is part of a 130-acre parcel that was acquired by the RTC from Westlake Village Associates, a consortium of three savings and loans, after two of them failed, Theobold said.

The 130 acres have been appraised at $30 million, and the government agency wants to sell the land to recoup some of the government’s funds used to bail out the failed savings and loans.

The RTC has asked the city to change its master plan to allow 720 housing units on the parcel, Theobold said.

It also wants to reduce the commercial component of the property from 1.4 million square feet--as permitted in the city’s Westlake North Specific Plan--to 680,000 square feet. The plan, drawn up in 1989, allows offices, hotels, business parks and retail stores in that area, Theobold said. It also allows for the construction of up to 250 condominium units.

Bill Kaufmann, a representative of Institutional Property Resources of Santa Monica, which manages the property for the RTC, said that under the current zoning “there is basically no market for the property.”

All parties involved stressed Thursday that the proposal is just a concept and that no action will be taken at today’s meeting. “We’re just throwing out ideas,” said Pat Parker, who is in charge of land acquisition for Kaufman & Broad’s office in Woodland Hills. “It’s an informal meeting. We just want to see what people think.”

The concept calls for as many as 190 detached, single-family homes, he said. Lot sizes would range from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet, “depending on hat the city wants.”

Theobold said the city is considering the proposal, which is undergoing environmental review. The results should be available in a few weeks, he said.