RESIDENTS PROTEST PROPOSAL TO TURN COURSE INTO HOMES VERDUGO HILLS: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ASKED TO HELP PRESERVE GOLFING SITE.Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer TUJUNGA -- Residents around the Verdugo Hills Golf Course have banded together to oppose a plan to replace the course with 229 new homes. While concerned about increased traffic and the loss of pristine greenery, residents argue that the course at 6435 La Tuna Canyon Road is not a good place to build homes. They recently formed the Golf Course Committee, printed hundreds of "save the golf course" bumper stickers, and circulated fliers and petitions to try to block the project. "We all learned how to golf there, those of us growing up here," said Cindy Cleghorn, 52, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council, which backs saving the course. "... And it's gorgeous there." Also, during World War II, the golf course site -- just north of the Foothill Freeway -- was used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Residents cite that as important history to be preserved. MWH See watt-hour. Development Corp., which owns the site, has proposed demolishing the golf course and replacing it with two-story, single-family detached homes A single-family detached home, or single-family home or detached house for short, also variously known as a single-detached dwelling or separate house , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. city report. The developer plans to build on 25 acres and donate more than 30 acres, the rest of the property, to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1979 and dedicated to the acquisition of land in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, north and west of Los Angeles, for preservation as open . MWH officials did not return repeated calls or respond to e-mails seeking comment Wednesday. The environmental review for the project is just starting. But already, Sunland-Tujunga residents are asking local governments to join together and buy the site. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San has committed $1.7million toward such a purchase, subject to approval from the Board of Supervisors, said Tony Bell, spokesman for Antonovich. Karen Zimmerman and her husband, members of the Golf Course Committee, live a half-mile away. "We just became very fond of this beautiful patch of greenery," said Zimmerman, a retired teacher. "The concept of (homes) just obliterating o·blit·er·ate tr.v. o·blit·er·at·ed, o·blit·er·at·ing, o·blit·er·ates 1. To do away with completely so as to leave no trace. See Synonyms at abolish. 2. that beautiful open space, I find that very, very upsetting." Residents have gone door-to-door with a petition and have collected more than 3,000 signatures of people who want to save the course, too, Zimmerman said. Even Glendale opposes the project, which lies just beyond its border. The Glendale City Council has written to the city of Los Angeles
Some Sunland-Tujunga residents have called on Glendale to commit money to buy the course, but the City Council made no move in that direction at a meeting last month. Najarian said starting a public collection to buy the golf course would get in the way of coming to "an arms-length agreement as to the price." alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com 818-546-3304 |
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