Newer Residents of Twin Lakes Protest Plan to Limit Growth

The newest residents of a funky hillside community above Chatsworth, where houses fill tiny lots originally intended for cabins and tents, on Thursday objected to a county plan to restrict development in the area.

Los Angeles County planners are seeking to limit the number of houses, widen streets and improve utility services in the Twin Lakes area, an eclectic community of cabins and modern three-story houses tucked in the hills north of the Simi Valley Freeway.

A representative of the Twin Lakes Homeowners Assn. said Thursday that plan opponents are small-time land speculators who believe the restrictions will cut into their profits.

“Please help us,” said Warren Stone, homeowner association president. “The speculative builders will build on anything that does not move.”

But Richard Maestro, who bought seven lots in the area about five years ago, said he is not worried about his situation because he already has built four houses.

“The homeowners’ association is using this because they like Twin Lakes just the way it is,” he said.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors postponed a final vote on the proposal until May 9.

Twin Lakes was established in the 1920s as a 60-acre rural resort, east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, with many lots smaller than 2,000 square feet. During the next 50 years, a residential community slowly emerged with construction of about one house a year.

But beginning in 1970, according to county planners and residents, a flurry of construction began, doubling the size of the community.

Planners and residents agree that the narrow private roads--some that barely accommodate compact cars--and the septic tank system are inadequate to serve the current 98 houses, not to mention the 100 more that the county estimates could be built without future growth controls.

After more than two years of study and community meetings, the planners proposed limiting development to fewer than 50 more houses and limiting house sizes to ensure they are set back from the road and not overly tall.

The formula would “in most cases in Twin Lakes, allow you to build only 800-square-foot houses,” said Merton Horn, who bought a house in the area two years ago and wants to build another next door.