Conservationists, planners near agreement on Mulholland Drive.

Conservationists and Los Angeles city planners have finalized guidelines to preserve views, open space and set rigorous design standards along 50-mile-long Mulholland Drive, with the aim of preserving the country-road environment inside America's second largest city.

Lots within 500 feet of either side of the Mulholland Drive right-of-way are affected by the measure. The plan was designed to protect the views for residents, drivers, hikers and bike-riders but also create standards that will upgrade residential neighborhoods along Mulholland Drive, according to Los Angeles city planning documents.

Brokers and architects say the tougher guidelines should bring more buyers and value to the properties. Unlike Bel Air and Beverly Hills, where rigid community plans have dictated landscaping and architecture for years, lots along Mulholland Drive were developed with minimal restrictions. As a result, mountain tops were leveled, homes were built on stilts and the region became a gallery of rococo architecture.

The Mulholland Specific Plan, which took effect June 29, was created over the last four years. It is administered by a seven-member Mulholland Scenic Parkway Design Review Board.

Board members are appointed by City Council members of the districts which are included in the specific plan area. No decisions are made without a quorum (four members). The board can't overrule planners' or council members' decisions. Along with the specific duties spelled out in the ordinance, the board may adopt design guidelines for new homes.

A longtime resident and designer of Hollywood Hills homes, Don Hensmen said the guidelines were long overdue, that few owners or architects have designed quality homes along Mulholland.

"People started building up there (in the Santa Monica Mountains) just after the turn of the century. You see a lot of homes with no style right next to $5 million estates," he said.

Hansmen said the region was developed haphazardly since Mulholland Drive was opened in 1924. The roadway is named for William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant who was instrumental in conducting the initial survey of the water resources of the Sierra Nevada's eastern slopes. He spearheaded construction of the aqueduct from the Owens Valley to the Los Angeles Basin.

The June 29 ordinance preserves the road and trails that comprise the scenic corridor and its vista points along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains. Road builders won't widen Mulholland Drive nor will they take out any of its hundreds of curves.

The Mulholland Specific Plan comes at a time when some brokers claim affluent home buyers are rediscovering the region.

"Values here, like everywhere else, have been affected by the recession but the views of the San Fernando Valley and downtown Los Angeles have brought in many buyers in the past two months," said Liz Bernard-Anderson. She is vice president and sales manager for Fred Sands Realty Hollywood Hills office.

"Homes that sold for $1 million in 1990 bring $750,000 to $850,000 today," Bernard-Anderson said.

The typical buyer wants out of developments where homes look too much alike and neighborhoods that don't offer views. They buy property that suits their personal tastes and spend what they can afford to put their own personal touches on it.

"It's not a matter of how much more the remodel or addition will add to the property value. It's an issue of individual comfort," said Art Hoffstrom. He owns San Fernando Valley-based Art Hoffstrom Builders and has 14 years' experience building in the area.

Creating individualized comfort in the secluded, mountainside environment isn't cheap. Roads that branch off either side of Mulholland usually are so narrow and steep that workers and delivery trucks can't drive onto the lot. They must park on the narrow roadway and hike up or down hills with building materials. That drives up construction prices, Hoffstrom said.

The new restrictions on development along Mulholland will drive construction prices higher because they entrench such access handicaps.

Specific restrictions within the Mulholland Specific Plan include:

* Driveways that intersect with Mulholland must be paved but sidewalks and median strips are banned. Motorists on the 50-mile drive are restricted to 25 miles per hour.

* Construction within 100 feet of streams is banned when it requires 100 or more cubic yards of excavation.

* Oak trees can't be removed without written approval of the board. At the same time, the ordinance bans planting of many plants such as bamboo, Italian cypress and eucalyptus.

* Property owners can't build any structure taller than 15 feet within 100 feet of Mulholland except under rare circumstances where the terrain already blocks them from the driver's view.

* Building permit applicants who want to grade more than 5,000 cubic yards or 5,000 square feet of lot area must pay for an archaeological and paleontological record search.

So detailed is the Mulholland Specific Plan, that it bans installation of satellite dishes or any other roof-mounted mechanisms except solar energy devices.

Design of fences gates and walls are restricted to rough-cut, unfinished wood; native-type stone; split-face concrete block; textured plaster surface walls; black or dark green chain link or wrought iron, or a combination thereof, according to the plan. At the same time, utility lines must be buried and roofs must be constructed of non-glare substance with no equipment atop them except solar energy devices.

All surfaces graded must be replanted in native vegetation within six months. The grading must be conducted so that it blends into the natural land form of the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the plan.

Building heights visible from Mulholland Drive, extending a half mile in each direction from the outer bounds of the 500-foot inner boundary, can't exceed 40 feet.