Fox studio mum on expansion-plans poll.

Questions signal it may be mulling smaller expansion

Twentieth Century Fox is remaining tight-lipped about a poll taken recently on the Westside that some residents surveyed said gauged their attitudes about Fox's expansion plan but left them feeling was slanted to generate positive responses.

Expansion opponents and people polled also said the questions suggested Fox is considering a scaled-down version of its expansion plan, something that has been studied and discussed by city officials. But Fox refused to respond to inquiries about the poll, submitted by the Business Journal by telephone and in writing.

Meanwhile, LaSalle Partners Asset Management, which owns the Fox Plaza office building adjacent to the Century City studio property, was among those requesting a time extension to respond to the draft Environmental Impact Report on the Fox project. At the requests of LaSalle Partners, two homeowner groups and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky's office, the city extended the time period for comments by more than a month. The new deadline is March 16.

Fox's expansion plan requires a zoning change, in addition to changes to the city's general plan and the Century City South Specific Plan, which must be approved by the Los Angeles City Council.

LaSalle's unexpected interest indicates the company that bought the office building from Fox in 1988 may be poised to oppose further office and studio development on the lot, but LaSalle remained noncommittal last week.

"It's really too soon to say," said Rosa Flores, general manager of the Fox Plaza project for LaSalle. "We are the adjacent owner. Activities on the lot could affect us."

Fox also leases office space in the plaza. Flores would not say how much additional space might be available for Fox to lease if the expansion plan were rejected or scaled down.

"I prefer to keep the comments (limited to) the EIR," Flores said.

On Saturday, Feb. 1, Fox had an open house, also billed as a "key group meeting," to discuss its plans with area residents.

Opponents said Fox denied meeting access to television news crews wishing to cover it and attempted to stop residents from photographing a sign outlining rules and procedures for the meeting. Fox did not conduct a public meeting, but rather provided information and allowed residents to submit comments in writing.

Meanwhile, one woman who was surveyed by phone said the pollster told her he was with Fairbank Maullin & Associates, which has conducted earlier polls on Fox. Fairbank Maullin did not return phone calls.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said she was quizzed about her voting record, especially in city hall elections, and was asked if she knew who her council representative was, leading her to believe that Yaroslavsky's office may have been involved in the poll.

But Yaroslavsky's press representative, Catherine McDonald, said the councilman from District 5 knew nothing of the poll.

"If Fox has done it, they haven't told us," said McDonald. "We haven't polled."

The woman surveyed, a Westwood resident, said she was asked general questions about her attitudes toward various development projects on the Westside, followed by a series of direct questions about the Fox plan.

One of the questions was whether she would support the plan if Fox scaled back its request for 771,000 square feet of new construction by 250,000 square feet.

Yaroslavsky has indicated in past discussions that a scaled-down version of the plan was a good possibility. In the draft EIR, the only alternative studied that was deemed preferable from an environmental standpoint was a "reduced intensity" project of only 350,000 square feet.

The alternative studied in the EIR basically eliminates the portion of the plan marked for "future new construction."

"This isn't even pretending," said expansion opponent Laura Lake, president of an environmental group called Friends of Westwood and a former candidate for Yaroslavsky's council seat. "There are no renderings of what it (the future construction) will look like."

Fox refused to respond to Business Journal questions about whether a reduced project is under consideration. The only word from Fox last week was a press release stating that the Westside Chamber of Commerce had decided to endorse the $200 million renovation and expansion plan.

Another woman who was polled, and who also asked that her name not be used, said she told the pollster she objected to questions that seemed designed to influence survey participants' opinions.

"If you had no opinion on the project, you would think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread," the woman said. She said questions were prefaced with statements such as "Given that the Fox expansion will create thousands of new jobs . . ." or "Given that Fox will spend money to mitigate traffic concerns and improve traffic flow. . . ."

"The kid (pollster) said, 'The last man I interviewed was just as angry as you,'" recalled the survey subject. "He (the pollster) said he didn't know who paid for the poll. He didn't seem to know who he worked for."