Council OKs Tujunga Wash Golf Course

In a stunning reversal, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve a golf course development in the Big Tujunga Wash, one of the city’s few remaining wilderness areas.

The action caps a decade-long fight that pitted government, environmentalists and unions against a mammoth Japanese development firm with interests in the project.

Council members said they came to the 10-4 vote, reversing a decision from last July, because Deputy City Atty. Michael Klekner had advised that taxpayers would probably be held liable for illegally taking the property if the development were denied.

“Finally, what should have happened has happened,” Florida developer David Hueber said after the vote. Hueber’s concern, Foothills Gold Development Group, had sued the city in October over the council’s previous vote to block the golf course, claiming $215 million in damages.

Opponents of the course were led by William Eick, a local attorney who has worked without fees for years to stop the project. “We are considering our legal options,” he said after the vote.

To become law, the council action must be approved by Mayor Richard Riordan. He has not yet made up his mind, said his spokeswoman, Noelia Rodriguez.

The five council members who changed their votes to support a modified version of the project Tuesday were Laura Chick, Richard Alarcon, Mike Feuer, Rita Walters and Cindy Miscikowski.

The original 650-acre Big Tujunga Wash site is home to one of California’s rarest and most fragile plant communities, an ecosystem that thrives on a harsh margin created by frequent floods and blistering droughts. One tiny wildflower that grows there is an endangered species. But the site is also privately owned and zoned to permit golf courses with a conditional-use permit.

Hueber stepped in to lease the property 2 1/2 years ago after a more ambitious golf course proposed by a previous developer was rejected by the federal government because it would further jeopardize the endangered flower. His scaled-back course would cover 160 acres. Golfers would be charged $50 to $75 per round. When the council refused to approve his plan in July, Hueber sued, contending that the council had left him no other economically viable use for the property.

The decision to approve the project came after a grueling three-hour debate at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center. Looking on was a throng of local residents, who filled the auditorium’s 400 chairs and lined the walls. Many wore stickers--yellow ones for supporters, orange for opponents--and the debate was punctuated with cheers and boos from all sides.

In the end, the few remaining opponents of the golf course watched with dismay as support for their cause slipped away:

“I think this project is going to be approved but I’m not going to vote for it,” Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said in a weary tone as her colleagues prepared to vote. “Once again, we have failed to preserve wilderness . . . and this is one of the last places to go.”