MCA Delivers Its Expansion Pitch to Neighborhood

Addressing an audience of often skeptical neighbors, MCA Inc. has embarked on a public relations campaign for its $3-billion proposal to transform the firm’s Cahuenga Pass property into a 24-hour resort and entertainment complex.

The company is mailing about 30,000 eight-page color brochures to neighbors, revealing for the first time sketches of its proposed Mediterranean-style resort, as well as the planned expansion of its movie and TV studios, CityWalk and Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.

The brochures could arrive at homes as early as today.

The proposal to double the development on MCA’s 415-acre property over 25 years has drawn praise as a potential boon to the local economy, but it has also been criticized by neighbors who fear increased traffic, noise and illumination.

The mailing represents a first step by the entertainment giant’s new parent company, the Canada-based Seagram Co., to be more open with the community, said one MCA official. Liquor giant Seagram Co. last year bought 80% of MCA Inc. from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Neighbors had previously complained that very little information about the planned expansion was being revealed by the company.

“We can’t control what was in the past,” an MCA source said. “But we have fresh ownership and a fresh start. We’re doing the best that we can to keep our neighbors informed.”

Those neighbors had varied reactions when told that the brochure did not include many specifics on the scope and configuration of the proposed expansion.

“It worries me a little bit,” said Richard Carr, an official of a Hollywood Knolls residents group. “But I understand that it is hard to get a handle on the nuts-and-bolts level when you’re projecting 25 years into the future.”

Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., was less receptive.

“Everybody needs to be clear that they’ve launched the first salvo in a public relations campaign,” Lucente said. “They are trying to sugarcoat everything. They are trying to shape public opinion . . . before we see the true facts.”

Those facts probably will not be known until later this year, when a draft Environmental Impact Report and a draft of the Specific Plan are circulated for public review. The documents are being prepared as part of MCA’s effort to win county and city approval for 5.9 million square feet of development.

MCA, the Valley’s largest private employer, already has 5.4 million square feet of development on its Universal City property. Two-thirds of the property is on unincorporated county land; the remainder is in the city of Los Angeles.

Company officials are not commenting on specifics of the planned expansion. But according to the brochure, the property will be divided into four districts:

* Sound stages and offices along the property’s northern edge would be added to what is already one of the world’s largest TV and film production facilities.

* The business center district near Lankershim Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway would expand to include new office buildings and hotels. It already has the Texaco tower and the Sheraton-Universal and Universal Hilton hotels.

* Both Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk would continue to add attractions within the entertainment district. There would be more activities for children ages 3 to 12--the brochure portrays families strolling across a wide pavilion of fountains and circus-type tents.

* A hotel resort district would be constructed on largely open land at the property’s eastern boundary. MCA describes this district as “Mediterranean in architecture and ambience,” with several hotels connected by pedestrian walkways.

Along the property’s southeastern boundary, closest to neighbors, the plan calls for a buffer zone “densely landscaped with greenery and highlighted with flowers.”

The company also plans new roadways on its property, as well as a new entrance at Barham Boulevard--measures aimed at dispersing traffic.

Carr, a resident of adjacent Blair Drive, said he thinks MCA will make good on its promise to soften the impact on surrounding residents. In recent months, the corporation has responded to neighborhood complaints by decreasing the volume of one of its studio tour attractions and by creating a forest-like facade that disguises a nearby parking structure and decreases noise.

But Joan Luchs, who lives off Cahuenga Boulevard, west of Universal City, has yet to see any progress in reducing the area’s traffic congestion. She said she does not take much comfort from MCA’s latest public relations effort.

“Forget it,” Luchs said. “They’re just going to be more polished than the previous gang.”