By JOSE HERRERA, City News Service
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday moved to block a proposed massive housing project in Woodland Hills, with the councilman representing the area expressing concerns about developing in a residential area located in a “very high” fire hazard severity zone.
In a 11-1 vote, the City Council instructed attorneys and planning staff to prepare an ordinance that would amend the zoning code for what is known as A-1 zones, or agricultural and residential zones. Elected officials also sought to exclude vacant lots — in this case a golf course — to be redeveloped into projects unauthorized under the zoning code.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman opposed the matter while her colleagues Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez and John Lee were absent during the vote.
The zoning change is important because owners of the Woodland Hills Country Club, located at 21150 Dumetz Road, are seeking approvals to build 398 homes on 20 acres of the club’s 93-acre site, known as the 4868 Canoga Avenue project.
In November 2025, developer and owner Arrium Capital, a Newport Beach-based real estate private equity firm, submitted an application with the city’s planning department for the proposed construction of 175-single family homes, 126 apartments with 97 affordable housing units, consisting of 32 units for seniors and 65 units for families.
The project would entail about 835 parking spots for vehicles, as well as be developed with internal streets, some green space and surface parking areas.
Single-family homes would be planned for up to three stories, while apartment building would go up to four stories.
Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who represents Woodland Hills and other West San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, led Friday’s efforts. He, additionally, was able to get his colleagues to support an interim control ordinance that would prohibit approvals and permits for any demolition, building, use of land, grading and other applicable permits for public parking areas on parcels in A-1 zones that are near sensitive areas, such as very high fire severity zones and hillsides.
The Department of City Planning is expected to produce the ICO and have it come before the council for a vote. If approved, the ICO would be in place for 45 days, with the possibility of being extended for a year.
There was no discussion on the matter.
“The goal is for the city to have discretion over a proposal that would wedge hundreds of units against the Santa Monica Mountains, a few miles from both the Palisades and Woolsey burn scars,” according to a statement from Blumenfield’s office. “The ICO is very narrow and is meant to close the unintended loophole created by the city’s rule that allows parking lots on A zones through a conditional use permit.”
Arrium Capital is attempting to fast-track the project under new housing laws, specifically AB 2011, which went into effect in July 2023. The law provides a faster ministerial approval process for multifamily housing projects located along certain commercial corridors.
Woodland Hills residents have raised concerns about the safety of the project, and some community members initiated petitions, conducted meetings and lobbied City Council members to oppose the project. Blumenfield’s office has sent letters to state lawmakers on the issue.
Housing advocates such as the Housing Action Coalition, Abundant Housing LA, and YIMBY Law criticized Blumenfield for attempting to prevent the construction of more housing at a time when city is facing a housing and homelessness crisis.
Azeen Khanmalek, executive director of Abundant Housing LA, wrote a letter to the City Council urging them to oppose Blumenfield’s interim control ordinance.
“Interfering with proposed projects does not only delay housing. It can imperil funding and sends a message to builders that, despite a historic housing shortage, the city is closed to business. To ensure affordable housing options at all income levels, we must plan for the future, allow state housing laws to expedite housing and not be careful not to undermine state tools meant to build a more affordable California,” Khanmalek wrote in his March letter.
In a 2025 letter to his constituents, Blumenfield laid out the issue, explaining that state laws created an opening.
“In Los Angeles, parking is allowed in single-family zones with an approved conditional use permit. Because AB 2011 permits these projects on sites where parking is allowed as a principally permitted use — even if a CUP is required — projects can proceed in single-family zones,” Blumenfield wrote in his letter.
“I fully support multi-family housing, and I have supported affordable housing and permanent supportive housing sites in each community in my district,” Blumenfield added. “Building dense housing in appropriate locations is why I fought so hard to get the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan through — so we have a designated urban commercial core where large-scale developments like this are welcome and approved through a simple administrative clearance process.”