By Los Angeles County Politics (LACP)
The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-1 Friday to instruct city attorneys and planning staff to draft an ordinance closing a zoning loophole that a developer is using to try to fast-track nearly 400 homes onto the Woodland Hills Country Club golf course, according to City News Service.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents Woodland Hills and led Friday’s effort, secured an interim control ordinance that would bar demolition, grading and building permits on A-1 agricultural-zoned parcels near sensitive areas — including very high fire hazard zones and hillsides — where developers currently exploit a rule allowing parking lots on A-1 land to sidestep discretionary review, according to City News Service.
The ordinance, once drafted by the Department of City Planning, would run for 45 days with a possible one-year extension. Councilmember Nithya Raman cast the lone opposing vote. Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez and John Lee were absent.
“The goal is for the city to have discretion over a proposal that would wedge hundreds of units against the Santa Monica Mountains, a few miles from both the Palisades and Woolsey burn scars,” Blumenfield’s office said in a statement, according to City News Service.
The fight looms over the race to succeed the termed-out Blumenfield.
Candidate Tim Gaspar laid out a detailed position in an April 14 statement to LACP, opposing the project as currently proposed while stopping short of opposing housing on the site altogether.
“I support building more housing in Los Angeles, and I believe deeply in responsible, well-planned growth. But I oppose the Woodland Hills Country Club proposal as currently proposed because it fails basic tests of responsible development for a hillside, high-fire area with constrained infrastructure,” Gaspar said. “At this scale and in this location, the project raises serious public safety and quality-of-life concerns. It would add hundreds of daily car trips onto narrow hillside streets that were never designed for that volume. It would require extensive grading in a Very High Fire Severity Zone and in a sensitive area bordering the Santa Monica Mountains.”
Gaspar also faulted the developer’s community engagement, saying residents who would have to live with the long-term consequences were not meaningfully engaged early in the process.
“I want housing built, but I want it built in a way that is safe, sustainable, and earns community trust through genuine engagement and transparency,” Gaspar said.
Fellow candidate Barri Worth Girvan has stopped short of staking out a position. Asked about the project in December, she told Valley News Group she was hearing from people on all sides of this issue and was doing a deep dive to ensure she heard from all stakeholders.
Aaron Green, a spokesperson for the developer, defended the project, telling Canyon News the housing is needed and that a private golf course isn’t the best use of land that could serve the broader community.
Urbanize LA reported the developer has warned the city could face fines of up to $20 million over what it calls repeated violations of state housing law, pointing to the city’s past legal losses over blocked affordable housing projects.
Additionally, housing advocacy groups have criticized Blumenfield’s approach. Abundant Housing LA executive director Azeen Khanmalek wrote a letter to the council urging opposition to the interim control ordinance.
“Interfering with proposed projects does not only delay housing. It can imperil funding and sends a message to builders that, despite a historic housing shortage, the city is closed to business,” Khanmalek wrote.
