Altadena : La Vina Plans Approved

Although the proposed La Vina housing project remains tied up in the courts, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission moved it forward Wednesday, approving the developers’ current plans.

Denying an appeal to rehear the case, the commission voted 3-2 to accept two conditional-use permits and a subdivision map that would allow developers Cantwell-Anderson and Southwest Diversified to build 229 single-family residences and a school at the 220-acre hilltop site that once housed a tuberculosis sanatorium.

Included in the commission’s approval was the removal of 157 oak trees--44 of them to be replanted.

Opponents are expected to appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors, which has final say.

Meanwhile, a rehearing of a lawsuit filed by Friends of La Vina is pending in Superior Court. The group contends the developers’ environmental impact report was biased because it was prepared by a firm hired by the developer. A judge ruled in their favor but was overturned by the state Court of Appeal.

A new hearing must be scheduled by Nov. 2