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Castle & Cooke Inc., the holding company that owns Dole Foods, is pushing ahead with plans to build 117 luxury homes in the Santa Monica Mountains, despite a new Los Angeles city plan that forbids them from building that many residences.

The proposed development would be part of the Mountaingate planned community and would sit on 43 acres of mountain terrain just west of the San Diego (405) Freeway and north of the Getty Museum. The development, which is slated to adjoin the existing 300-home planned community, would consist of 69 townhomes, 26 semi-custom homes and 22 custom estates.

But in June, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a development blueprint for the region known as the Brentwood-Pacific Palisades Community Plan Update that would limit development on the site to no more than 28 homes and perhaps as few as 15. The exact number of homes allowed depends on how a slope density formula on steep terrain is applied.

Castle & Cooke, based in Westwood, last month filed suit against the city, claiming it did not fully assess the environmental impact of the plan update before approving it.

“Our contention is that the impact on the environment of building 20 or so homes there is the same as building 117 homes, especially when you look at the grading that would be involved,” said Castle & Cooke spokesman Tom Pernice.

Also, he said, the plan is inconsistent with meeting the needs of the Westside’s growing population.

But city officials are standing firm.

“(Castle & Cooke) is being held to the same slope density standard that everyone else is subject to,” said Deputy Planning Director Gordon Hamilton. “That standard will not allow 117 homes to be built there.”

L.A. City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, in whose district the proposed development lies, also insists that the developer comply with the community plan, said Miscikowski’s Planning Deputy Linda Bernhardt.

In the face of this opposition, Castle & Cooke has mounted a public relations and lobbying campaign. During the second quarter, the company paid $35,000 to public relations firm Cerrell Associates Inc., according to lobbying records compiled by the City Ethics Commission.

When taken in combination with another $5,000 spent to engage Santa Monica engineering firm Psomas & Associates and L.A.-based legal counsel Latham & Watkins, Castle & Cooke’s Mountaingate project placed 10th in lobbying fees paid during the quarter, paying out a total of $40,568.

Already, Castle & Cooke has scaled back its development plans from 164 homes to the current 117. But that has not been enough to sway local residents.

“Everybody I know, myself included, is opposed to them building 117 homes,” said Mountainview Homeowners Association President Bob Rieth, who is one of the 300 homeowners in the existing development, begun 25 years ago.

“Over the last 25 years, there has been a significant change in the area,” Rieth said. “You now have the Getty Museum, the Skirball Cultural Center and six major schools in the area, all of which put additional traffic on the San Diego (405) Freeway and Sepulveda Boulevard, which was already crowded from rush-hour commuter traffic to and from the (San Fernando) Valley.”

In addition, he said, many are opposed to the grading that would accompany the project.

“They plan to move 1.6 million cubic yards of earth, flatten three ridges and fill in two canyons. It’s going to make an awful mess of the environment,” Rieth said.

Castle & Cooke has held several meetings with local residents; last February, it even brought in Chairman David Murdoch to address their concerns.

That strategy has so far proved unsuccessful. Instead of reaching an accommodation, the Mountaingate homeowners have hired the Los Angeles law firm of Arnold & Porter and have filed as an intervenor on behalf of the city in Castle & Cooke’s lawsuit against the city.

“The homeowners are insisting that the developer comply with the city’s community plan,” said Brian Condon, a litigator with Arnold & Porter. “But the issue is not just pure numbers. It is also about preserving the existing environment and not cutting the hillsides and filling in the canyons.”

All this opposition has left Castle & Cooke’s Mountaingate project in a precarious position. Spokesman Pernice said the fate and size of the project is so uncertain that the company cannot release a timeline for construction start and completion dates.

“All I can say is that we hope to have these outstanding issues resolved by the end of the year,” he said.

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