Residential Project Urged for Warner Ridge

Neighbors of the controversial Warner Ridge development urged city officials to approve only a residential project, rather than give the developer a commercial option.

At a public hearing sponsored by the Los Angeles Planning Department at the Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club, Jerry Katell, president of Katell Properties, repeated his request to be given a choice between a 471-townhome residential development and commercial development.

Although neighbors have complained that the residential project would be too dense, Katell defended the density as a minimum to be “economically competitive.” Under existing zoning, 800 to 1,600 units could be built, he said.

“Without this density, the commercial development will be more advantageous and that’s what we’ll build,” he said.

Standing in front of drawings of how a residential project may look, Katell said townhouses would create less than half of the traffic of a commercial development. High-end housing units would also occupy half the space, he said, and maintain the area’s residential character.

Katell has already received approval to build a 690,000-square-foot commercial and office development on about 16 acres on the east side of De Soto Avenue between Oxnard and Victory boulevards.

Residents, many of them members of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, said they preferred a residential development.

Katell should not have the choice to build either a commercial or residential project, said Shirley Blessing.

“We want [Katell] to decide once and for all which one he wants,” she said. “We will work diligently with him to develop the residential one.”

Eve Levinson said she supports building one-story units: “There’s a great need for housing for seniors.”

A residential project would maintain the sanctity of the residential area and create additional funding for schools and libraries, said Joe Ellis, 76.

The battle over Warner Ridge goes back more than a decade. After the City Council tried blocking plans that would include commercial space, a prior developer won a court order allowing mixed-use development.

Design work has already begun on a first-phase commercial development that would feature 274,000 square feet planned for the northern part of the property.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to make a final decision April 22.