L.A. Council Scales Back 2 Controversial Projects

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to scale back two controversial developments proposed in the San Fernando Valley--one on the site of Corvallis High School in Studio City and the other in the hills above Sherman Oaks.

The action, subject to the expected approval of Mayor Tom Bradley, was a victory for homeowners.

Development of the 3.6-acre former high school site on Laurel Canyon Boulevard just south of Ventura Boulevard would be restricted to 36 apartments and nine single-family homes. Previous zoning permitted construction of 200 units.

The council also cut in half the density of a proposed 31-home subdivision that area Councilman Mike Woo called “one of the most offensive projects” he has seen in his three years on the council. He complained that the project at the top of Alomar Drive near Longridge Avenue would have lopped off the tops of two ridges.

Attorneys for owners of each of the properties questioned the legality of the council action. They said they plan to consult with their clients about a court challenge.

A representative of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, which owns the Corvallis site, said the Roman Catholic order would try to lease it for a high school. Corvallis High closed last year after 46 years of operation because of declining enrollment.

Council members, following a tradition of deferring to a colleague on a project that affects only that council member’s district, approved the zoning rollbacks unanimously and without discussion. Woo, in whose district the properties are located, requested the rollbacks.

At a public hearing, celebrity residents of Studio City such as actors Ed Asner and Ed Begley Jr. joined Polly Ward, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., in supporting the building restrictions at the high school site.

They complained that too much development on the site would worsen traffic congestion in the neighborhood.

“It’s not fair,” said Peter Lynch, a lobbyist for the high school’s owner. Lynch said the nuns reduced the number of proposed units from a possible 200 to 130 and agreed Wednesday to reduce it further to 104.

Lynch said the council action cut the amount of money that the nuns could have realized from sale of the property from $7 million to less than $3 million. He said the proceeds from the sale were to go to the sisters’ charitable work.

“Are your criteria based on politics and public opinion or on good planning and justice for all?” Sister Joan Treacy asked the council during the hearing.

On the Longridge-Alomar tract, the council reduced the density from one home per 15,000 square feet of land to one home per 40,000 square feet. Gail Gordon, an attorney for property owner George Bergmann, could not say how many homes the council action would allow but expected the number to be about 15.

Opponents of the proposed development objected that it would lop off the tops of two ridges and fill a canyon with 1 million cubic yards of dirt. They argued that it also would funnel heavy traffic up two narrow residential streets and send storm runoff cascading down into houses below.

“We’re talking about incredibly massive grading,” said Lisa Specht, representing the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. Specht is expected to run for the council seat likely to be vacated by Zev Yaroslavsky, who is expected to run for mayor. “We’re talking about destroying ridgetops.”

An aide to Woo said the developer will have to submit a new grading plan for the project.

‘Have Right to Build’

But Gordon said: “We believe that we have the right to build under the approved tentative-tract map.” The subdivision’s tentative-tract map was approved by city officials in 1982. The law says the city cannot withhold final approval of a project once a developer has met the conditions of the tentative-tract map, Gordon said.

Dale J. Goldsmith, another attorney for Bergmann, noted that the council recently approved a 284-unit and a 95-unit tract near Bergmann’s property. “It would be unfair for the city to allow such immense projects to proceed while failing to recognize our client’s right to complete his small tract, which already has been reduced from 64 units to 31 units,” Goldsmith said.

Bergmann bought the property for $2.2 million at a bankruptcy auction in 1986.