Coalition Formed to Fight MCA Expansion : Universal City: Homeowner and business groups agree to team up. They cite concerns about traffic, noise and lights.

Representatives of several homeowner associations and chambers of commerce, attending a meeting Tuesday on MCA Inc.’s plans to double its development at Universal City, decided to create a coalition to fight the entertainment conglomerate’s expansion proposal.

They were among more than 200 people who gathered in a grand ballroom to tell county and city planners which issues to consider in an upcoming environmental review of the plans.

While the setting was civil, the tone was not, as the crowd boisterously applauded such statements directed at MCA as “You don’t belong here!” and “We will stop you!”

By the end of the first of two afternoon sessions, the homeowner and business group representatives pulled their chairs in a circle and began discussing plans to resist.

In documents distributed at the meeting, MCA revealed publicly for the first time a few new details about its plans to develop its 415 acres above Cahuenga Pass.

The site is already home to one of the nation’s largest motion picture studios, the Universal Studios Hollywood tour, an 18-theater movie complex, CityWalk, Universal Amphitheater and two hotels.

If MCA gets its way, over the next 25 years the site would acquire a group of themed resort hotels totaling 2 million square feet. In addition, MCA would add almost a million square feet of studio space, 1.4 million square feet of “family” entertainment, retail stores, restaurants and theaters, and 1.4 million square feet of offices and a 1,000-bed business hotel.

The company is seeking to incorporate all of these ideas into a specific plan approved by the city and county governments that would guide Universal City’s development over the next quarter of a century.

First, though, it must draft and win approval for an environmental impact report--and Tuesday’s meeting was called to determine the issues that citizens want examined in that report.

The format did not call for any responses from MCA officials, and none were made publicly by company officials gathered in the back of the room taking notes and acting as genteel hosts.

The comments centered around worries about traffic, noise, crime and bright lights at night. Neighbors’ statements sounded frustrated and angry.

John Hartman, who described himself as a 40-year resident of Blair Drive, which abuts Universal City on the southeast, complained that the plans released so far were “vague” and a “stalling tactic.”

He held out little hope for the governmental review process and rejected the size of the proposal, which would expand Universal’s development from the current 5.85 million square feet to 11.28 million square feet.

“If we are going to have this rammed down our throats, at least scale it back,” he told the meeting’s moderator. “Double is not acceptable.”

Echoing his remarks was Polly Ward, a Studio City homeowners group official. She criticized MCA for not stating how high each building would be, or what would go into a block on its map labeled “entertainment.”

“What if it’s a 20-story IMAX theater?” she said, turning to the crowd. “There’s no way to talk about potential impacts without having specifics of what’s being planned.”

Joan Luchs, a generally pro-development realtor who lives in Cahuenga Pass, called the project “totally inappropriate” and complained that MCA was a “bad neighbor” who exercised “bad faith” and had “no sense of living in a community together” with its neighbors.

“You don’t belong here!” she said, pausing for applause. “You have no right to do what you’re doing. You are expanding too much, and the community doesn’t support it and we are tired of it!”

Bill Griswold, another Blair Drive resident, called MCA executives “wonderful human beings” who should realize “we’re human beings too.”

“We don’t want our homes turned into a circus,” he said, observing that already his home is illuminated by CityWalk lights and is subjected to noise throughout the day and night from the tour’s live-action shows.

Michael Wester, a Cahuenga Pass homeowners association leader who works as an architect, noted that Universal’s plans did not detail the amount of space devoted to parking lots. When they are factored in, he said, his figures suggest that when fully built the property would have the equivalent of a three-story building over its entire 415 acres.

Christine Hanson, an MCA vice president, appeared nonplussed by the comments.

“We absolutely do care,” she said. “We have changed so much in response to people’s concerns for noise and light. We have built sound walls and changed shows. But we can’t do everything overnight.”

Still, she was hopeful for the future.

“It’s good for us to hear what our neighbors have to say,” she said.

A draft environment impact report will be prepared and circulated for public comment in the fall.

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Universal City Expansion Plan Although still in preliminary phases, expansion plans in Universal City would more than double development in the 415- acre complex by adding 5.8 million square feet of facilities to the current 5.4 million over the next 25 years. Plans include development of a resort hotel and entertainment facilities a well as additional studio production and office space.