COUNTY REJECTS MULHOLLAND LANE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday against a plan to install a left-turn lane on Mulholland Highway, agreeing with neighbors that there is no need to carve into the hill and straighten the historic road.

A half-acre outcropping across the highway from the Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park triggered a dispute over plans to carve into the hill and straighten out the road to handle traffic from a planned subdivision.

County officials had said they needed to cut into the hill to ensure a line of sight for approaching motorists, but neighbors said the construction would change the look and feel of the scenic road.

``The people who live there, who really cherish it, said you couldn't destroy this unique and special area,'' said Sandra Stafford, a Seminole Springs resident and vice president of a group dedicated to preserving the community of Cornell, one of the oldest in the Santa Monica Mountains.

``What really upset us was the staff report that completely overlooks the historical and environmental significance of the area. We were able to find unusual plant life, oak trees, rocky outcroppings and unique features the report never mentioned.''

According to Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the proposed left-turn lanes are not required and the new intersection into the subdivision could be constructed so as to provide sufficient sight distance to meet generally accepted traffic engineering standards.

Residents opposed removing the outcropping, which sits across the highway from the mobile home park, whose residents purchased the land along with several other lots when it became a resident-owned park in 1987.

After residents refused to give the land to the developer, West Pointe Homes, and then refused the county's $8,800 offer to buy the land on the developer's behalf, the county had planned to take the property by eminent domain.