Planners OK Golf Course in Tujunga Wash

Delivering a setback to environmentalists, the Los Angeles Planning Commission unanimously approved a proposal Thursday to build a public golf course and preserve on 160 acres of the ecologically sensitive Big Tujunga Wash.

Although opponents said they will appeal the decision to the City Council, the commission action is a significant victory for developers, who battled for years with environmentalists, neighbors and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Key to the approval was a decision last year by developers to reduce the size of the proposed golf course. The scaled-down version carefully avoids development in flood channels, thereby removing the project from the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. The federal agency in 1994 had denied a permit to build on the 355-acre site because it would jeopardize the slender-horned spineflower, listed as an endangered species.

Developers said the new plan does not pose any danger to the ecology of the wash.

After listening to hours of impassioned debate Thursday, the commission sided with the Glendale-based Foothills Golf Development Group and its plans for the Red Tail Golf and Equestrian Center. The project would include an 18-hole public course and clubhouse, as well as bicycle and equestrian trails.

“I think it will be a great project,” said Mark Armbruster, the firm’s attorney. “I think we’ve bent over backward a thousand times to meet the concerns expressed by opponents.”

Commission President Robert L. Scott said of the developers: “They came to the realization that they will have to be good neighbors.” The company is owned by Florida businessman David Hueber.

Beginning in 1987, developer Cosmo World Corp. unsuccessfully sought approval to build a private golf course on the Big Tujunga Wash property. Opponents objected to building in the wash--which runs from the San Gabriel Mountains to Hansen Dam--because of dangers to the area’s rare sage scrub habitat and the tiny spineflower, a position supported by the Army Corps of Engineers.

But last year, Cosmo modified its proposal to avoid flood channels, which are governed by the federal government. The developer said the changes also offered greater protection to native vegetation. It also proposed that the course be public.

In August, Foothills Golf announced it had signed a contract to develop and operate the course, with Cosmo retaining ownership.

Some former opponents now support the plan.

“I can’t understand why people are still opposed. It’s an absolute necessity for our community,” said Kathy Anthony, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce. She added that she was angered by speakers at the hearing “who come here to protest but don’t spend a dime here and don’t care about our community.”

Others said they would never support any development of the wash.

Tristine Rainer of Sunland implored the commissioners to preserve the wash, one of the Valley’s few remaining natural habitats.

“This is the last area that shows what this beautiful valley once looked like,” Rainer said. “When it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

William Eick, who lives near the wash, is an attorney who has volunteered to help a local environmental group, Small Wilderness Area Preservation, fight the development. He vowed to appeal Thursday’s decision to the City Council.

“We want to preserve the wash in its natural state.” Eick said. “This is far from being over.”

* POLITICAL BRIEFING: Lobbyists are already on the green. B5