What is Canyon Hills?

Canyon Hills is a proposed residential development by Whitebird, Inc., which planned it to be built next to the I-210 Freeway at La Tuna Canyon Road. This project was fully approved by the City of Los Angeles all the way back in 2005, long before I became a community activist protecting my neighborhood from overdevelopment and fighting the infamous 710 tunnel.

I first heard of the Canyon Hills project during Crescenta Valley Community Association meetings around 2010. At that time, development had slowed substantially due to the downturn in the economy and the project stalled. I was happy that it wasn’t moving forward. The plan that originally called for more than 375 single-family homes to be built on the hillside had been negotiated down to 221 – but that was still 221 too many to my mind. Having grown up in Sunland-Tujunga and now living in La Crescenta, I had seen the encroachment of hillside development and knew the importance of keeping our canyons natural.

Some people confuse Canyon Hills with the other proposed project at the former site of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course further east where Tujunga Canyon, Honolulu Avenue and La Tuna Canyon roads intersect. That proposal for 229-single family homes by Snowball West Investments LP has been in the works since 2004. Snowball sued the City of Los Angeles not only for the ability to change the zoning codes to allow higher residential density but also to remove the site’s historic cultural monument designation for Tuna Canyon Detention Station, an internment location during WWII. The court agreed with the City’s decision in both cases, but Snowball appealed. The project remains in flux and, sadly, the property has been unattended since the golf course closed. Canyon Hills was not restricted to the same zoning designations as the Snowball project.

Recently, there has been renewed movement on Canyon Hills. The owner applied for a grading permit, which triggered a public meeting that was held on Jan. 27. In the meeting, I learned that Whitebird intends to build the project before its 20-year time limit expires, which means soon. It intends to use significant “cut to fill” grading techniques to create a “balanced site” and no dirt to be transported to another location. It is expected to take between 10-14 months to complete and once graded the property would either be developed by a hired homebuilder or sold to another developer to build the houses. There is no current plan for the size, design or price of the homes.

The entrance to the Canyon Hills gated community would be directly opposite the westbound 210 onramp/offramp at La Tuna Canyon Road. A newly installed traffic signal would control canyon and freeway access as well as trucks delivering construction materials. At the top of the development, an emergency gate would be placed at Inspiration Way.

Naturally, the meeting attendees had a lot of questions and, although polite, representatives didn’t answer questions the way the public wanted. For example, we were told that fire evacuation for the community would actually improve upon completion of the project because of the new emergency gate would serve the entire hillside community. We knew better. No wildlife movement would be impacted because animals aren’t traversing the steep terrain. We knew better. Ironically, the bulk of the 162 coastal live oak trees slated for removal and replacement had already burned in 2017 and therefore did not need to be taken out. Should be a red flag. Colored concrete would be used to reduce the visual impact of the large development with terraced drains and pump stations for sewage removal. It won’t help.

The Snowball development was not approved in part because of fire hazard and evacuation constraints but could still come back. The adjacent Canyon Hills project should be reevaluated and the EIR reopened to address new concerns and impact. Contact derek@simmco-inc.com and erin.strelich@lacity.org with questions or comments.

Susan Bolan
susanbolan710@gmail.com