Board to Consider Limits on Universal Studios Noise

In a nod to residents’ concerns about noise from late-night film shoots at Universal Studios, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission will consider the first-ever evening restrictions against pyrotechnic and helicopter sounds coming from the studio’s movie sets.

Commission staff members initially recommended the restrictions months ago, drawing objections from Universal officials who have opposed limitations on the way the studio makes movies.

The issue is coming to a head because the commission is poised to make a decision next month on Universal’s plan for a 3.2-million-square-foot expansion.

This week, a long-awaited, 22-volume environmental impact report on the expansion plan was released, marking a key stage in a review process that began in 1995.

And despite Universal’s objections, the noise restrictions were included as part of an accompanying “specific plan” that lays out guidelines on everything from signage to building height. According to one commission staff member, the noise limitations are among the recommendations most likely to generate controversy.

Universal would be prohibited from making loud “impulsive” sounds such as explosions and gunfire from midnight to 5 a.m. during the winter, and from 1 a.m.to 5 a.m. during daylight saving time.

During public hearings, Universal attorney George Mihlstein has pointed out that the studio has been shooting outdoors on its land since 1915, using an industrial zoning permit that 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.”

Ginny Kruger, assistant chief deputy to county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, said Universal “continues not to want any limits on outdoor nighttime filming. But the staff recommends that there be limits. We support that position and we hope the commission as a whole will, too.”

Helen McCann, Universal’s vice president in charge of the master plan, said Universal remains opposed to “limits on production, and that’s exactly what this is.”

But, she added, “there are other things in the staff recommendations that we don’t agree with. That’s all part of the process.”

The expansion will be reviewed by the full commission in meetings set for Oct. 7 and 14. At that time the commission could approve the recommendations, or send the package back to the staff for more work.

Eventually, the plan must be approved by the Los Angeles City Council and the county Board of Supervisors. The plan is not expected to reach the supervisors until the spring.