Commission Orders Specific Plan Be Drawn for Universal Project

Ending 14 months of often raucous public hearings, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission ordered its staff Monday to draw up a specific plan for Universal Studios’ proposed $1-billion expansion, meaning the vast project could break ground as soon as a year from now.

By summer, the Planning Commission is expected to review and tinker with details of the project, including a new environmental impact report, before giving its final approval.

But the City Council and county Board of Supervisors must also approve the project, and Universal doesn’t expect its first shovel to touch dirt until at least spring 1999.

The commission voted Monday to impose stricter noise limits on all outdoor entertainment at Universal, covering everything from fireworks to live bands and thrill rides. Five noise areas were set up around the company’s 415-acre property, with the highest noise limits set toward the middle of the park, away from residential neighborhoods.

The commission also voted to have a third party conduct random noise monitoring at least four times a year at four sites off Universal’s property, plus ongoing noise tests on Universal’s lot. Commissioner Esther Feldman said whenever a new attraction is added by Universal, noise monitoring will track whether it stays within the sound guidelines.

The regulations, however, don’t cover any noise generated by Universal’s outdoor film and TV productions.

Fred Greve, a Newport Beach noise consultant hired by the commission, noted that loud noises from film and TV work “can and has occurred late at night and can cause sleep disturbances” for neighbors because of everything from gunshots to helicopter sounds.

Commissioners Feldman and Don Toy pressed Universal to turn over data on how much noise from outdoor film production occurs on its lot, and asked the company to present this within 60 days.

This was a sore point for Universal attorney George Mihlstein, who repeatedly said Universal has been shooting outdoors on its land since 1915 and its industrial zoning permit exempts it from noise limits during outdoor productions. He said Universal vehemently opposes “any dramatic policy shift that potentially could affect one of the largest studios in the world.”

The commission said it didn’t want to prevent Universal from doing outdoor film work but simply wanted to better understand the mix of loud noises generated at the big entertainment complex.

“If you start disadvantaging one studio over another, the impacts are enormous,” Mihlstein said in an interview.

Last summer, after numerous standing-room-only public hearings and months of angry testimony by neighbors who complained about noise, traffic and crime problems, Universal slashed its expansion plans by more than 40%.

Universal’s current plan would add 3.3 million square feet of office and studio production space, hotels and retail stores, and boost its current building space by about 60% over 15 years.

Universal’s property is by far the largest entertainment tract in the Valley, and because it sits on both city and county land, the project must win approval by both city and county agencies.