BIGGER UNIVERSAL WOULD ONLY WORSEN MATTERS, NEIGHBORS GRIPE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

More than 200 residents living near Universal Studios renewed their pobjections Monday to a proposed doubling of the county's largest entertainment complex.

Noise and traffic again dominated the dialogue at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, where radio personality Rick Dees and mayoral candidate Sen. Tom Hayden joined the debate.

``I've complained or called several times about the noise. Nothing ever gets done,'' said Dees, a KIIS-FM (1150) disc jockey and president of the Toluca Estates Homeowners Association. ``There are explosions every day. My mom came last year from North Carolina and said `Son we're getting invaded; what's going on?' ''

Marie Thorpe, another Toluca Lake area resident, said the traffic and noise that's resulted from the addition of amusement park attractions already is too much for the neighborhood.

``It has been a tragedy for Toluca Lake residents,'' Thorpe said. ``If Universal wants an amusement park, go out in the country and buy a tract of land.''

Nick West, a member of the Outpost Estates Homeowners Association, said he didn't believe Universal's promise that it could deal with more traffic, saying gridlock already exists in the area.

``The impacts have been severely underestimated or ignored,'' West said.

The hearing was the fourth in a series that's being conducted jointly by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission and a Los Angeles Planning Department hearing officer.

At an earlier meeting, proponents, including representatives of business groups, spoke in favor of the project, which Universal estimates will create 13,000 jobs and economists say will boost the San Fernando Valley's economy.

Universal wants to add nearly 6 million square feet of office, retail and resort space to its 415-acre Cahuenga Pass complex over the next 25 years.

Hayden received a standing ovation from the crowd after calling for major changes to Universal's plan so that each project would have to be approved, as opposed to the ``blanket'' approval the company is seeking.

Residents say that otherwise they could lose all control over the company's expansion.

Debbie Herzoff, a Toluca Lake resident, complained that some of the buildings Universal is contemplating would cast a shadow over her neighborhood.

``It will leave me with a yard full of mushrooms and a very cold swimming pool,'' Herzoff said. ``They don't deserve the right to take away our sun.''

Helen McCann, the Universal vice president handling the company's master plan, said all the residents will receive the company's response after the hearings and the final environmental impact report are done.

The plan is under review by the county and city planners because 70 percent of the Universal campus is located in an unincorporated area of the county, while the remaining 30 percent is within the city of Los Angeles.