Download December 2025 WHHO Newsletter here

Highlights:

”This past week revealed a virtually “secret plan” for a proposed high density housing development on the south side of a large chunk of the Woodland Hills Country Club.”

”This is an initial plan for the WH Country Club development. While approximately 20% of the land is targeted for the project, there is a very good possibility that the remaining 80% of the golf course land will be sliced up and sold to other developers.”

”What hasn’t been brought out into the light are the many expensive and necessary problems with turning a 100+ year old tract of land that has only been equipped for use as a golf course. The City, County or State may face the exorbitant costs of replacing very old, barely navigable roads that are almost as old, and the need to add many necessary upgraded utilities like new water, sewer and electrical grids that can adequately serve the proposed new 3 and 4-story residences and other necessary facilities.”

” At a December 4 Planning, Land Use and Mobility (PLUM) meeting of the Woodland Hills-Warner Center Neighborhood Council, over 40 concerned area residents showed up to voice their issues, concerns and even fears during the Open Comment period of the meeting—even though the topic had not been set for the meeting because it had not become an “official City Case” with a project number and filed paperwork that had been distributed by Planning. In fact, for many of the speakers and most of the PLUM members, they had not even heard about the project until December 1 when some details started leaking out to the public.

The concerns and comments they made were striking:

• Most understood the City’s need for lower cost housing and for residences for low-income and seniors. The vast majority were not NIMBYs, but they questioned why a proposal as large as this could even be considered for reasons the developer—and the City and the County—have failed to address.

• The most concerning issue is that the location is in the center of a dangerous high fire hazard zone. The golf course is in a “bowl” surrounded by hillsides thick with homes, trees, and crumbling City roads. Remember, the golf course is over 100 years old and situated in the middle of the older developments in Woodland Hills.

• Related to the concerns for a major fire is that there is basically just one way out (not counting two antiquated dirt roads that the golf course used for maintenance.) A major wildfire like the last one that almost jumped “Dirt Mulholland” and had access to the homes and hills surrounding the WoodlandHills Country Club, could not only see a panic of cars streaming to get out of the canyon, but see LA Fire impeded by traffic jams and issues similar to the Palisades fore.

• The water pipes, sewerage, and even the electrical are all relics of the 20s and 30’s when the Girard development was the first residential area in Woodland Hills. A completely new sewerage system and an upgrade to virtually the entire water system and electricity systems would be necessary to serve this project.

• In very rainy seasons, the golf course grounds haven often been flooded and so far, no one has proposed how the developer or City will deal with flooding issues if the reach older homes that ring the golf course.

• The roads into the Country Club—as well as those roads in the surrounding residential hillside--are in poor or even worse condition and dangerous when wet. Single vehicles can barely access the area--not to mention oversized trucks carrying building supplies for 3 and 4 story buildings.

• The land is zoned for “Agricultural use— which also covers the golf course. They received no notification from the City, County or State that the zoning was under consideration for change.

• Nearby schools are now at capacity and bringing in residences that are not limited only to seniors will exacerbate the crowding in schools. Low income families have more school-age children that seniors and couples in their 40s and 50s.

• The trees, shrubs and natural vegetation on and surrounding the golf course are currently refuges for all forms of wildlife in the area. This needs to be taken into consideration
  
  A spokesperson for the developer emphatically has stated that the project embodies California’s goal of producing much-needed mixed-income housing that the developer believes the site qualifies to “utilize the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process provided by AB 2011/AB 2243 so that lengthy hearings and approvals from City Council and County boards can be avoided.

  However, area homeowners point out that the law (AB 2011) was written to streamline housing on commercially zoned properties--not on A1-zoned agricultural land, and that its Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone designations raises additional concerns and questions on how the law(s) actually work in real life. They point out that the law (AB 2011) was written to streamline housing on commercially zoned properties … not on A1-zoned agricultural land,” and that its Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone designation “raises additional questions about how the law functions here.”

  Earlier this year, the Palisades fire prompted voluntary evacuations in the Girard Tract, where residents could see the flames from their balconies as the fire moved through the Topanga Canyon area toward their neighborhood above the golf course. After many had to evacuate their homes, the fire issue is top-of-mind. “We want to ensure the project receives the level of safety and environmental review any community would expect,” one worried homeowner stated