Tentative Agreement Reached on Warner Center Development

Los Angeles school district officials and Councilwoman Laura Chick reached tentative agreement Wednesday in a long-simmering dispute that threatened to block major developments in Warner Center, officials said.

The deal could steer Proposition BB money to Canoga Park High School and Parkman Middle School for air conditioning and soundproofing sooner than had been planned.

Rich Mason, attorney for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said that although no formal settlement has been reached, he is optimistic that the city and school district have a “basis for a mutually beneficial resolution on this.”

Last year, the school district won a significant battle in a long war in court over the city’s Warner Center Specific Plan.

An appellate court ruled that the city erred in approving the plan in 1993 without taking into account possible impacts of development on two district schools, Parkman Middle School and Canoga Park High School.

Specifically, the school district was concerned with the air quality and noise pollution that might result from increased traffic in the area, bounded by Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Vanowen Street, De Soto Avenue and the Ventura Freeway.

The city also recently lost its bid to take the case to the state Supreme Court, and the case is now back in Superior Court.

As part of the tentative agreement, city and school district attorneys will go to court to declare that the concepts of a settlement have been reached, and ask that the specific plan not be invalidated as the court had ruled.

Mason said the district will ask its Proposition BB oversight committee to approve the air conditioning and soundproofing money with the hope of being reimbursed over time as development continues.

He said the agreement is pending the outcome of the city’s new supplemental environmental impact report for the specific plan, being conducted to determine if impacts on the schools would be above the threshold allowed by law.

Ken Bernstein, planning deputy for Chick, said one of the main points still to be negotiated is whether the city will promise to mitigate problems before the supplemental EIR is released.

He said the city is reluctant to do so because it “makes the assumption that there are impacts.” He added, though, that if they are found, the city will “not waive them away. The city will step up to the plate and take care of them.”

Coming to some sort of agreement, and soon, became important to the city after several developers expressed concern and even threatened to pull out of Warner Center because of the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the area.

Twentieth Century Insurance Co. was approved to erect an 11-story, 275,000-square-foot building on Owensmouth Avenue, but was reluctant to pull permits to build until the case was settled.

The school district agreed not to challenge any development already approved or in the city’s approval process.

“The district doesn’t wish to hold up any development in Warner Center,” Mason said.

Bernstein said that the tentative agreement should give developers the assurance they need to go ahead with their projects.