County OKs Plan to Limit Development in Santa Monicas

In a broad-ranging move to protect the Santa Monica Mountains, officials Tuesday unanimously approved a blueprint for growth that seeks to limit development in the rugged but fragile wildlands that border urban Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ acceptance of the Santa Monica Mountains North Area Plan included an 11th-hour return to lower building densities than those first proposed.

To do so, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky introduced a motion that reversed a controversial Regional Planning Commission decision that would have increased--in some cases, doubling and quadrupling--the number of homes that can be built on eight key parcels.

“This is the culmination of an almost six-year project,” Yaroslavsky said. “This is one of our most precious parts of our county, and we have a largely good plan.”

Three congressmen had asked supervisors to lessen density: Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) and Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles).

Under the North Area Plan, about 3,700 homes can be built instead of the 5,400 allowed under the current land document.

The new land-use document will guide development for 21,172 acres of rural unincorporated land in the Santa Monica Mountains. Much of this 32-square-mile swath includes spectacular views and peaks above state and national parkland, including Malibu Creek State Park, Paramount Ranch and Peter Strauss Ranch.

About 250 people, many of them wearing buttons emblazoned “Down with Upzoning,” a reference to the Planning Commission’s decision, packed the supervisors’ boardroom for a 2 1/2-hour public hearing. More than 50 addressed the board.

“The selfish whims of a few should not alter the direction of the majority,” testified Gene Talmadge, a planning administrator for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, one of the agencies that had helped craft the plan.

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Talmadge was among the dozens who protested the Planning Commission’s decision to increase density.

Dozens of other speakers were critical of the new plan, including developers who feared it would derail their housing projects and equestrian advocates who said their recreation uses were not protected.

On one 61-acre parcel on Mulholland Highway, attorney Cary Lowe said, the North Area Plan would limit his client, Polk Bros. Foundation in Chicago, from being able to build 20 homes as allowed under the old plan.

“The issue of recreation appears to be a neglected issue in this great plan,” warned Ruth Gerson, president of the Recreation and Equestrian Coalition. “It should be a national recreation area.”

Many residents applauded the board, claiming victory in their effort to end years of rampant development, sometimes in violation of county rules.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Don Wallace, a Calabasas resident who represented the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council and a local equestrian group.

The prior land document for the Santa Monica Mountains was adopted in 1981, but has often been ignored. A Times analysis revealed that county supervisors, especially Mike Antonovich, whose 5th District once included the region, frequently approved subdivisions much larger than were permitted.

Under the new North Area Plan:

* The overall goal is to maximize preservation of the area’s natural environment and ensure that new development is compatible with existing communities.

* Loopholes for calculating density of projects are removed. For urban residential parcels, it clearly states that streets and private easements can’t be counted in the net area. Non-urban areas with one dwelling or less per acre can still count streets and easements.

* Land-use designations are simpler, reducing 12 categories to eight classifications. The old plan laid out land categories in a confusing, topographical style; the new plan map is easier to read.

In his motion to reinstate lower density, Yaroslavsky requested that several parcels, totaling about 1,500 acres, be returned to a one house per 20-acre designation instead of the denser one per 10 acres approved by the Planning Commission. He also reduced density on a parcel in Calabasas that would have allowed 114 homes instead of the maximum 22 originally proposed.

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Not everyone was satisfied.

Vocal opponents of the Live Oak Ranch project off Cornell Road in the shadow of Ladyface Mountain were disappointed with the density approved. But Yaroslavsky said the parcel was already sufficiently limited to 80 homes.

Nor was the equestrian lobby completely placated by additional language in the North Area Plan to address their recreation, boarding and horse business needs.

But many who had labored on the document for years celebrated its passage.

“It’s the first time the county adopted a land-use plan that recognizes the area is special,” said Dave Brown, a former chairman of an advisory committee for the plan.