City to Proceed With Warner Center EIR

Hoping to speed development of Warner Center, the Los Angeles City Council set aside $175,000 Tuesday for a new environmental impact study of the project to comply with a court ruling against the city.

The supplemental study will examine the development’s potential effects of noise and pollution on two public schools, Parkman Middle School in Woodland Hills and Canoga Park High School, which lie near the project site. In October, a state appellate court concluded that the city had not adequately studied the matter and ordered a beefed-up environment report for the development to proceed.

Although the city has appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court, the council voted Tuesday to comply with the appellate order to keep the project moving forward.

The legal battle over the project, which would more than double the size of the development from 15 million to 35.7 million square feet, has bedeviled the city for years. After approving the enlarged development in 1993, the City Council found itself sued by another government body, the Los Angeles Unified School District, which contended that it would have to install $5 million in air-conditioning and air-filtration equipment to provide clean air for students at Parkman and Canoga Park.