Redrawing the Line
For the people who spent much of the 1980s battling rampant real estate development across Southern California, the 1990s have been, well, kind of a dud.
The wave of mini-malls, skyscrapers and condominiums that raised the ire of residents receded in the face of a brutal economic recession and real estate bust. The neighborhood activists and environmentalists who gathered slow-growth petitions and staged protests moved on to other causes. Laura Lake, for example, a prominent foe of development on the Westside of Los Angeles, turned her attention to fighting a nuclear waste dump in Nevada and other interests.
“It was quiet, and land development went into hiatus,” said Lake, founder of Friends of Westwood and Not Yet New York.
But now, Lake and others have returned to the battleground over growth, as real estate development activity has started to pick up across Southern California.
Many observers don’t expect the concern about growth and development to become as hot a topic as it was during the previous decade, when pro-development politicians were voted out of office and slow-growth initiatives became a staple of the ballot box. Still, even some early development proposals have stirred up controversy and opposition across Southern California.
Universal Studios, for example, has been forced to dramatically scale back its expansion plans under pressure from homeowner groups and local politicians. In the South Bay and south Orange County, residents are growing worried about airport expansion plans. In Pasadena, homeowners are objecting to a planned retail development on South Lake Avenue. In Westwood Village, Lake is leading the battle against a developer who plans to build a huge theater and shopping complex.
Both sides are expected to draw upon the expertise gained from the development battles of the 1980s.
“Everybody is a little bit more sophisticated and a little bit more battle-worn, and they are all eyeing each other,” said Julie Gertler, founder and president of Consensus Planning Group, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that helps developers win public support for their projects.
The current concerns about development, however, pale in comparison to the public outcry and backlash against growth during the 1980s. Traffic congestion and the disappearance of open space were two of the many issues that triggered a broad revolt against growth and the plans of Southern California real estate developers, who had long operated with scant opposition.
“The amount of anti-growth activity that we saw in the ‘80s was unique,” said Mark Baldassare, chairman of the urban planning department at UC Irvine. “The fact that the economy was so strong took away the issue of jobs as a reason to support development. People didn’t really feel like they were taking much of a risk when they jumped on the anti-growth bandwagon.”
Growth became a political issue as voters approved restrictions on new construction and booted out pro-development politicians. In 1986, for example, Los Angeles voters approved a measure that significantly reduced the amount of allowable commercial and industrial development. In Santa Monica, residents in 1990 rejected two proposed commercial projects even after the developers had received the backing of city officials and had invested $7 million.
Santa Monica City Councilman Ken Gensler has seen residents’ concern about growth change with swings in economic and development activity.
“That’s what got me into office,” said Gensler, of the anti-development sentiment that got him elected in 1988. “In 1992, it wasn’t an issue at all. But it’s picking up a lot now. You hear more and more concern about it, and there are more appeals of Planning Commission decisions to the City Council.”
Los Angeles developer Jerry Snyder has also noticed a change in attitudes toward new development as concerns about the economy fade.
“If you had a project three or four years ago, the City Council would be anxious for jobs. . . . Nobody really cared about traffic or pollution,” Snyder said. “Now traffic is an issue. The environment is an issue. Everything is an issue.”
Residents are growing nervous as many long-dormant projects--such as Warner Ridge in the western San Fernando Valley and Stevenson Ranch in Santa Clarita--once again show signs of returning to life.
“For a long time, when things were quiet, people may have gotten a bit more complacent and thought they would never happen,” said Sharon Kaplan, a governmental relations specialist at Psomas & Associates, a Santa Monica-based real estate consulting firm. “People are asking a lot of questions about them now, as they are starting to look viable again.”
Yet the future conflict over development is expected to be more muted and scattered than the broad anti-growth movement of the 1980s, according to planning and real estate observers.
The huge job losses suffered during the recession will make many people think twice about closing the door completely to development. In addition, many suburbs, where anti-growth sentiments have tended to be the strongest, are now increasingly divided as they compete for business, making it harder to organize against development, Baldassare said.
Many developers who witnessed the previous decade’s battles over growth have adopted a more inclusive and less arrogant approach to community concerns. Developer Rick Caruso, for example, includes residents early in the planning process to win support for his projects. In Westlake Village, Caruso dropped plans for a mainstream supermarket in a shopping center and instead signed up a specialty grocery store--Bristol Farms--based on requests from some residents of the affluent Ventura County community.
“The most critical part of the process is to get the community behind the project, or you don’t have one,” said Caruso, president of Los Angeles-based Caruso Affiliated Holdings. “If the homeowners and city are going to fight it, then we are going to drop the project and go somewhere else.”
Many residents concerned about upcoming development say they welcome growth--if it is well-managed and suitable for their communities. Richard Nahas, a resident of Toluca Lake, has joined other neighbors concerned about the increased noise that would be generated by a proposed expansion of Universal Studios. But the 50-year-old banker does not want to stop development.
“You can’t hold back growth in Los Angeles,” Nahas said.
In Westwood, Lake, who was reviled by developers during the 1980s, says she is supportive of “strategically planned growth” and has backed proposed developments in Westwood Village that comply with existing building and design restrictions. But watch out, says Lake, if any developer tries to exceed those restrictions, as one Los Angeles builder has by proposing a 12-screen movie theater.
“Then it’s war,” Lake said.
