Builders Say New Limits Would Stall Warner Center : Development: A proposal to temporarily restrict floor area to 35% of the lot size is attacked as a likely discouragement to expansion.

Developers and business representatives testified Monday that further restrictions in temporary growth controls at Warner Center would virtually halt construction in the area.

About a dozen speakers told a Planning Department hearing examiner in Van Nuys that a proposal to temporarily limit development to 35% of the lot size would discourage businesses from moving to Warner Center and prevent existing businesses from expanding.

“This is truly a moratorium, not an interim control ordinance,” said Gary Morris, who represents several property owners in the area.

Morris and others said that virtually all existing development is at or beyond the proposed ratio of 35 square feet of business space for each 100 square feet of lot size. They also said the proposed ratio is too low to attract new businesses.

Opponents said the existing interim control ordinance is enough to deter large development because new construction can occur only if developers agree to abide by whatever traffic mitigation measures--including a proposed $15,000 fee for each new daily car trip a project generates--finally adopted in the so-called Warner Center Specific Plan.

The interim growth controls were first adopted in 1988 and will remain in effect until a long-range specific plan for the area is approved. Last month, the City Council--led by Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents Warner Center--directed planning staff to toughen up the interim controls.

Jim Dawson, a planning aide to Picus, argued Monday that the amendment is needed to ensure that large development does not move forward before the plan is adopted.

“It is needed because there is a real potential for a race to the permit counter,” Dawson said. “If we have all the development that is being proposed built, then all the efforts to come up with a plan will be moot.”

Dawson said more than 14 million square feet of development is being proposed for the area, although some developers at Monday’s meeting said that number was high. Topanga Plaza, Blue Cross and Trizec Properties are among the companies whose expansion plans could be affected by both the proposed amendment and the final specific plan for Warner Center. A draft of the specific plan released last month allows for 11.8 million square feet of development over the next 20 years, increasing the center’s size to 26.8 million square feet. Under present limits, Warner Center could grow to about 35.7 million square feet.

If the proposed 35% floor-area restrictions were applied to all future development, Warner Center would not exceed 15.8 million square feet.

Picus has said she prefers limiting development to about 20 million square feet.

A public hearing on the specific plan will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Parkman Junior High School in Woodland Hills. City officials said it will be at least another 12 months before the plan is completed and adopted by the council.

Homeowner groups and small businesses supported the amendment Monday, arguing that large development could create traffic problems and drive out small businesses.

The Warner Center planning area is generally bounded by Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Vanowen Street, DeSoto Avenue and the Ventura Freeway.

Hearing Examiner Donald K. Taylor said he will submit his recommendation on the amendment two weeks before the Planning Commission’s meeting scheduled Oct. 10.