Residents Fear End of Their Trails

Although he lives on three-quarters of an acre zoned for horses, film editor David Tweet doesn’t own one. But with friends who keep horses nearby, he can borrow one whenever he has the urge to ride.

“There’s a thousand miles of trails,” Tweet said of his relatively wild northwestern corner of Chatsworth. “You can go to Magic Mountain on a horse from here. You can go to Fullerton.”

Tweet’s favorite ride is up into Deerlake Highlands, north of the 118 Freeway. “The moment you reach a certain point, you’re gone,” he said, trying to describe the pleasure that comes from turning your back on the city and riding into the high ground. “You feel like you’re out in the wilderness.”

In the late 1920s, Deerlake Highlands was subdivided into 2,575 minuscule lots. Dozens of modest weekend homes were built in the highlands. A few still stand, along with a chimney or two that survived the great fire that roared through in 1971. But in the decades since, tenacious grasses have all but erased evidence of that earlier development. Today, hawks soar overhead, scouring the ground for prey.

But the Deerlake Highlands that Tweet loves is on the verge of changing forever. If developer Presidio Partners Chatsworth wins county approval, it could break ground as early as September on Deerlake Ranch, a community of 484 upscale houses on 230 acres of the plateau.

In January, Tweet and other opponents argued against the development at a meeting of the Regional Planning Commission in Los Angeles. County commissioners deferred their decision until April 10, asking the developer to address the concerns of neighbors, the commissioners and others.

“From a horseman’s point of view, the biggest problem is the horrendous size of the project,” said equestrian activist Jerry England, who would like to see the project scaled back to fewer houses on larger equestrian lots. He also wants assurances that the trails that crisscross the highlands will be maintained and other equestrian concerns addressed.

But equestrians aren’t the only ones worried about the effect 484 new homes will have on this relatively undeveloped swath of the San Fernando Valley. The proposed subdivision is in an unincorporated area just north of the city of Los Angeles, and city residents fear that almost 500 additional families will clog local streets and schools and overburden other metropolitan services already stretched thin.

“It’s kind of like Ahmanson Ranch,” said Greig Smith, deputy to City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the Deerlake Highlands area. “It’s a large project on our border. The county got all the benefits. The city got all the grief.”

Just as city residents fear increased traffic and bulging classrooms, outdoor enthusiasts and environmentalists worry about the effect on local wildlife.

Anna Rapagna Cox, president of the Chatsworth Homeowners Alliance for Mountain Preservation, lives in one of 100 homes that make up the tiny community of Twin Lakes, which lies closest to the proposed development. Cox and her husband, Tony, train tigers and other animals for the entertainment industry.

“The back of our property looks over the meadow and the creek,” said Cox, who wants assurance from the developer that the project will not damage the rich but delicate ecology sustained by the creek that flows through Devil’s Canyon. The near pristine stream is the lifeblood of the highlands, said Cox, who walks four to six miles almost every day in the shadow of the Santa Susanna Mountains.

The developer has spelled out plans for minimizing damage to local flora and fauna in the environmental impact report and elsewhere. Sixty-five live oaks are to be replaced. Almost 2,000 rare but not endangered Plummer’s mariposa lilies are to be moved to land that will be ceded by the developer to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. A biologist will be hired to determine whether two pairs of rare ashy rufous-crowned sparrows nest on the property. If they do, construction will be kept at a distance during nesting season, the developer said.

But Cox said she sees dozens of other rare or threatened species in the course of her walks, including tarantulas, cranes and foxes. There is also a breeding pair of mountain lions in the highlands. “The female has been seen several times with her cubs, and the male has actually been in our backyard,” Cox said.

At meetings with community members, the developer has assured residents that any water that goes into the creek from new sewers and storm drains will be nearly pollutant free.

Given how passionately Cox and others feel about the highlands, the debate over the project has been remarkably civilized. Richard Garlinghouse, one of the three principal partners in Presidio Partners Chatsworth, seems to be widely regarded as a decent guy, as does Hans Giraud, a Calabasas engineer and consultant to the San Francisco-based developer.

Garlinghouse said his firm has made a real effort to keep the community informed. He describes most of the community members as “reasonable people,” adding “on the other hand, anything that comes into your neighborhood or comes into my neighborhood is a threat.”

Giraud said most of the residents are realistic and know that the highlands will be developed sooner or later. Giraud said that those fighting for sensitive development have not resorted to strident NIMBYism. Instead, “they saw the opportunity to get some benefits for their community in the process,” he said.

But residents are also alert and cautious. Many have been tracking resident concerns about La Vina, an Altadena project by the same developer that was billed as equestrian-friendly but seems not to have made good on trail access and other promises. Garlinghouse said his firm has been trying to find out what happened at La Vina, which was built by another company.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who voted to approve La Vina 10 years ago, has asked for an audit of the project to determine whether the developer met all the conditions of approval. The audit is underway.

Mark Watters of Twin Lakes said he would like to see the project cut back by at least 100 homes. He is also worried about the quality of any water that will go into the creek and Devil’s Canyon.

“Why not build equestrian homes?” Cox asked. “People want land. They want a place where they can breathe and get away from the city and everything that happens in our world today.”