Development Near Equestrian Homes Is OKd

A Los Angeles City Council panel on Tuesday recommended approval of a 21-home development in Chatsworth over strong opposition from neighbors who argued it threatens their equestrian lifestyle.

Encino developer Ted Stein, an influential former chairman of the city Planning Commission, plans to build 21 homes on 6.7 acres at the northwest corner of Chatsworth Street and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

The council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee recommended a zone change even though two dozen residents and business leaders testified against it during the two-hour public hearing at City Hall.

The committee’s chairman, Councilman Hal Bernson, is a friend and political ally of Stein.

Opponents said the gated development, which would average one home for every one-third of an acre, is incompatible with the surrounding horse-keeping properties that range from three-quarters of an acre to two acres.

The committee supported a zoning change to allow residential use and an amendment of the General Plan that otherwise would have limited the project to 16 homes.

Residents, several of whom angrily stormed out of the meeting, said the development would create pressure to subdivide other parcels in the area, eroding the rural character of Chatsworth. They argued the development would cause traffic safety problems and that an 8-foot-high wall will block views of nearby mountains.

“We ask that instead of adding to the blight by building too many homes on too little land . . . that we think about how a positive contribution can be made to Chatsworth by saving and protecting this property, one of last remaining naturally rustic areas left in the Valley,” Andrea DeYoung said.

Several speakers mentioned the political implications of the project.

“If a community is almost 100% in opposition to a project, it’s hard for me to understand why an elected official should support it,” said Roger Swallow, one resident of the area.

Susan Eskander, who owns the Trails End Ranch, a horse boarding facility within 1,000 feet of the property, voiced concern that a lack of riding trails endangers horse riders, who must use the area’s busy streets.

“Politics aside, whatever is decided here today, please put public safety as your No. 1 priority,” she told the council committee.

Bernson urged residents to consider the alternatives.

“A shopping center or a condo project on that corner . . . would be a lot more detrimental to horse-keeping than what [is] proposed here today,” Bernson said. “Nobody will be disenfranchised by what you have on that corner.”

Some property owners feared the development could trigger a city rule prohibiting horse-keeping within 75 feet of a neighboring home, but Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski amended the plan to require any homes to be built beyond that distance from adjacent equestrian properties.

Councilman Joel Wachs, whose neighboring district includes other horse-keeping areas, also opposed the project because it would put pressure on other area property owners to increase the density of development on their lots, said Dale Thrush, an aide.

“It is going to create a snowball effect on surrounding properties, and it’s going to destroy the equestrian nature of the area,” Thrush told the panel.

The project was opposed by the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce and the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.

“We believe that this project will irretrievably change the character of the Chatsworth community,” said Bill Powers, representing the chambers.