NEIGHBORS CUT, PASTE CONCEPT FOR NEW TRACT.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

SYLMAR -- When John Laing Homes bought up the parcels for its Roxford Glen development, the developer envisioned 70 small homes crowded on what was once horse property. The local homeowners' group, which had bitterly fought off previous development attempts, wasn't enthused.

So to win over its new neighbors, the developer plied them with poster board, markers and glue. They sat down and talked, and the home builder came up with a novel attempt at compromise: better understanding through collage.

``It was a hoot! We all felt like we were in first grade again,'' said Bob Feeny, a local real estate agent and president of the Rancho Cascades Community Group. ``They gave us all scissors, glue and magazines and 20 minutes to put together our ideas of what the community should look like.''

The posters showed wide streets, larger homes and horse trails. No condos, but big lots and a rustic feel -- sort of a country enclave near an urban setting.

On Saturday, John Laing will open the first models based on what residents designed. Crews are at work prepping the site for the homes, priced from $700,000, for owners to move in next year.

Horses were key to the neighbors' concepts. With the Stetson Ranch equestrian park nearby, residents wanted to be able to ride their ponies right through the development. They wanted as much land as possible devoted to homes with horses.

So the company officials mulled it over, ran it past architect Bloodgood Sharp Buster and offered a compromise. The developer would instead create 44 home sites, each from 7,500 to 17,500 square feet, and six of them would accommodate horses.

Not only would a trail meeting up with Stetson Ranch be incorporated into the development, but John Laing Homes also would donate $100,000 to the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department to fix up the land.

``There's a change in how the industry needs to do business,'' said Bill Rattazzi, president of the company's Los Angeles/Ventura division.

``As we do in-fill business, there's a difference in how you have to operate. If you're building in Palmdale or somewhere in the middle of nowhere, you don't have to worry about the people next door, because they've just lived there 10 minutes. But if you're going into a place with long-standing roots, you've got to listen to what those people want.''

This has not always been the case for development in the San Fernando Valley, historically known both for urban sprawl and the not-in-my-backyard mentality.

As developers built up the area after World War II, they erected block after block of homes with little regard for whether one community would mesh with the next. In reaction, powerful interest groups sprang up, with enough clout to hold up any project, regardless of its merits to the community at large.

``Companies used to just say we'll use Plan B because it's what works in Rancho Cucamonga; here's what I think we can sell it for,'' said David Honda, president of the construction firm DS Honda and a member of L.A.'s city Planning Commission. ``That's why you see the same homes over and over and over again. When you allow the public to start to select materials and designs, it makes the developer do a lot more homework, but it's the right way to do it.''

Feeny would have preferred larger lots and fewer homes, but he emerged from the process satisfied. And rather than assailing Roxford Glen, he's calling it ``the pinnacle of our community.''

``We fought some of the others with a vengeance,'' he said. ``But they said they wanted our opinions. It made us feel important to them.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Bob Feeny, president of the Rancho Cascades Community Group, walks in Roxford Glen in Sylmar. He is among activists who worked with the developer to retain a rural atmosphere.

(2) A horse stable next to the new Roxford Glen development in Sylmar is part of a rural character builder John Laing Homes is taking pains to retain.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Map:

Roxford Glen development