Planning Panel Votes Against Oakmont

The Glendale Planning Commission has recommended that the City Council reject a long-debated plan to build 572 luxury homes in the Verdugo Mountains.

The commission voted 5 to 0 against the development after a marathon public hearing that stretched into the early morning hours Thursday. The council will vote on the Oakmont View V project on Tuesday.

More than 600 homeowners and environmentalists packed the Glendale Civic Auditorium on Wednesday night to urge the commission to vote against the development. The city’s Planning Division presented a 24-page report that found that the 238-acre project is “inconsistent with the city’s General Plan” and “poses a significant public safety hazard.”

The meeting, interrupted at times by cheers or jeers, lasted nearly eight hours.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make,” commissioner Bob Lemke said. “But when we were all leaving at 2 a.m., we all said that we did the right thing. I did what was in my heart.”

A similarly large crowd is expected for the council hearing. That session will be held at City Hall, but with a television link to the Civic Auditorium, where people can testify.

Oakmont developers blamed the commission’s decision on political pressure brought by homeowners and environmentalists.

“I am not surprised,” said Lee Gregg, vice president of Gregg’s Artistic Homes, “but I am always hopeful that our elected officials will carefully make an informed decision.”

Gregg said the commission lacked enough time to fully consider a four-volume, 2,000-page environmental impact report on the development.

The Planning Division cautioned that building homes on the steep, rocky slopes could trigger landslides or rockslides. It also found that the Oakmont proposal would pose “substantial environmental danger” to the area’s oak and sycamore trees, wetlands and wildlife, including endangered species.

Proposed federal legislation calls for a study of expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Verdugos. It would allow the Oakmont land to be set aside for recreation.

State lawmakers have approved $8 million toward the purchase of the Oakmont tract. The developers, however, say the land was appraised at $46 million more than a decade ago.