Glendale Nears Vote on Oakmont Project

The final battle is nearing in Glendale over a 572-home development in the Verdugo Mountains above Oakmont County Club.

On one side, an army of conservationists, environmentalists and some homeowners are passing out fliers, decorating lawns with anti-growth signs and firing off rallying e-mails.

The other camp is made up of other homeowners, home seekers and developers. The group is distributing brochures as the developers show models depicting luxurious living and field hundreds of calls from possible buyers.

Within three weeks, the Glendale City Council will decide the fate of the fifth and final phase of the Oakmont View V, a controversial proposal that opponents and city officials have stalled for a decade.

First, the five council members must wade through a four-volume environmental report that Dave Bobardt, Glendale’s senior planner, said is 2,000 to 4,000 pages. It is the second version, written after the City Council denounced the first one as lacking public comment.

The environmental report released last week concluded that the project would harm the air, wildlife and scenic vistas, but would not significantly increase the city’s population or require building community facilities to accommodate growth.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) on Friday described the second report as “flawed” and “astoundingly similar” to the original version, claiming it should have done a better job addressing community concerns.

Schiff is the author of proposed federal legislation calling for a study to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Verdugos. It would allow the Oakmont land to be used as recreational space.

“There really is little public support for a hillside development of a massive housing project,” Schiff said.

State lawmakers have approved spending $8 million toward the purchase of the tract, but developer John L. Gregg said the land was appraised at $46 million more than a decade ago.

The final decision on Oakmont is scheduled for March 5.

Gregg said on Friday that it was about time. His company, Gregg’s Artistic Homes, proposed the project in 1992, a year before Glendale adopted a hillside law that would have limited the number of homes to about 50.

Gregg sued the city, ultimately agreeing to drop the lawsuit if officials allowed the proposal to proceed under the earlier, less restrictive ordinance.

Planning stalled until last year, when a Los Angeles judge ordered Glendale to complete certification of the environmental impact report by March 15.

“The process won’t be pleasant, but it’s necessary,” said Gregg, who estimated that his company has spent more than $3.25 million on environmental impact reports, legal fees, geology studies, biological studies, engineering work and other expenses related to the Oakmont proposal.

Gregg argued that the housing plan would elevate Glendale’s quality of life, particularly for executives who work at Nestle USA, DreamWorks SKG and other city businesses.

Each month, Gregg said he receives dozens of calls from highly paid workers who are tired of commuting from Westlake Village and the Antelope Valley.

“Why not give them a nice house here?” Gregg asked. “Why not let them buy $60,000 cars on Brand Boulevard so the city can use the sales tax revenue?”