Explore the Territory Before Changing the Landscape

Development projects in the San Fernando and neighboring valleys appear to be picking up--a good sign that the region is finally recovering from the real estate slump of the early 1990s. But along with this encouraging news there already are signs that the adversarial relationships between developers and homeowners and environmentalists are again flaring up--a discouraging indication that not much has changed since the go-go days of the 1980s.

A number of high-profile projects have moved forward in recent weeks, to the anger and disappointment of those who have fought them for years. Among them: Warner Ridge, the commercial and residential project in Woodland Hills that forced Los Angeles to reconnect zoning with planning; Newhall Ranch, a sprawling development of 25,000 homes on the outskirts of Santa Clarita; and a public golf course in the environmentally sensitive Big Tujunga Wash.

The progress of these three projects--slowed by varying combinations of legal, financial, bureaucratic and environmental hurdles--is encouraging in terms of the big economic picture. The tide is rising. But critics of all three projects have valid concerns. Some problems they point out can be solved. Others cannot. In their understandable rush to appear friendly to business, public officials deciding the projects must not lose sight of the fact that whatever is built will be there for a long time.

The Tujunga Wash, for instance, remains one of the last places in Southern California where nature exists much as it has for thousands of years. Cutting a path out of the Angeles National Forest to Hansen Dam, the wash serves as a reminder of what the region looked like before gas stations and mini-malls, and, not incidentally, is home to the endangered slender-horned spineflower. For almost a decade, developers have wanted to put a golf course in the wash. Last month, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved plans for an 18-hole course and an equestrian center on 160 acres east of the Foothill Freeway.

Although developers have scaled back the project under pressure from environmentalists and the Army Corps of Engineers, it remains hobbled by its location. Wild open space this close to an urban area is a rare resource, the loss of which should not be taken lightly. Opponents plan to appeal the decision to the City Council, which should recognize that boulder-strewn Tujunga Wash is the wrong place for a golf course.

At the same time, the council should recognize that Warner Ridge is the right place for a proposed complex of office buildings and apartments. Nestled between the high-rises of Warner Center and single-family homes around Pierce College, Warner Ridge was the focus of one of the city’s nastiest, costliest and most provincial land-use battles. City officials changed the zoning of the land in an effort to scuttle the project, but ended up losing a nearly $5-million court battle. By that time, however, the bottom had fallen out of the real estate market and the project fell apart.

With a new developer interested in taking over the project, Warner Ridge is alive again. Armed with a legal judgment against the city, he should have no problem getting the necessary permits. Concerns remain about traffic in the area, but none that cannot be alleviated. Virtually any project creates traffic and developers are required to minimize its impact. Overall, the project is an example of sensible planning for the future.

Warner Center’s mix of offices, shops and apartments breaks down the traditional walls between different types of land use. Warner Ridge takes the concept one step further by incorporating apartments and businesses into the same project. It’s an idea promoted by planners who believe that such integration can reduce traffic and pollution by allowing people the option of living near their jobs--an experiment that traffic-choked Southern California can ill afford not to try.

That’s also the concept behind Newhall Ranch, the giant community planned in the Santa Clarita Valley. Billed as an example of “New Urbanism,” the 25,000-home development is projected to house 70,000 people over the next few decades. Its vision of shops and offices within walking distance of a mix of housing types is intriguing and a sign that standard suburban development is not what home buyers want these days.

But Los Angeles County officials reviewing the project should not be swayed by the exciting vision of the future promised by developer Newhall Land & Farming. As visionary as it may be, the project will extend the sprawl of Los Angeles over another 19 square miles--land that is now mostly open, but used for farming, ranching and oil drilling. Planning officials need to ask themselves whether stretching the urban boundary farther is the best idea--even for a project that claims to reduce sprawl.

Sound planning can keep communities vibrant for generations. Bad planning starts to fall apart almost from the start. Often, the difference between a good project and a bad project is a matter of location. Golf courses don’t belong in environmentally sensitive canyons, but experimental projects such as Warner Ridge do belong in already developed districts. And before planners sign off on another suburban tract, they need to think about what will be lost forever.