UNIVERSAL CITY : MCA Zoning Suit Upsets Homeowners

Homeowner leaders Thursday expressed concern about a lawsuit filed by MCA Development Co. to rezone 23 acres of vacant land next to Universal City for intense commercial development.

“This is quite distressing,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Homeowners Assn. Lucente said his group opposes rezoning that would permit further development of the Universal City area as a regional commercial center.

The real estate arm of MCA Inc., the media conglomerate, sued the city of Los Angeles on Tuesday to get the rezoning.

Although the MCA land is identified in a 1974 Community Plan as part of a future regional center, it is zoned for low-density residential use.

In announcing the lawsuit Tuesday, MCA Development President Larry Spungin said recent court decisions--including ones in the litigation over Warner Ridge in Woodland Hills--have established that the city’s zoning laws must conform to its community plans, not vice-versa.

Todd Ellison, president of the Hollywood Knolls Community Club, said his homeowners organization is concerned about traffic-generating development, but would not automatically oppose any project MCA puts forward, Ellison said.

Spungin has said his company has no specific plans for the valuable real estate but wants to have the zoning for a major commercial project when the time is right for development.