L.A. Report on Fox Expansion Plan Is Positive : Growth: The release of an environmental impact study sets the stage for a series of hearings on a studio proposal to add 771,000 square feet of space to its Century City facility.

After two years of controversy and struggle, the city of Los Angeles on Thursday released a final environmental impact report that gives a relatively clean bill of health to Fox Studios’ $200-million expansion plan in Century City.

In the two-volume, four-inch-thick EIR, Fox promises to mitigate traffic that is expected to double if the project is approved by the city.

The studio also promises a campus-like atmosphere with a seven-story height limit on new buildings and says it will preserve historic buildings from the industry’s formative years.

Fox Studios, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, is seeking to add 771,000 square feet of space to its 53-acre facility at the west end of Century City for a total of 1.89 million square feet of production and office space.

The release of the environmental impact report triggers a series of hearings. No date has been set for the first public hearing in January.

Fox employs 2,400 people, which will increase to 4,700 during peak production periods if the project is built as planned. About half of the current work force lives on the Westside, with 75% commuting from within a 10-mile radius.

Fox officials acknowledged that they still must persuade residents that they won’t be inundated with traffic.

“Traffic is, was and continues to be the most important consideration in the community,” said project manager Helen McCann. “All traffic impacts will be mitigated” through widened streets, special traffic lanes and synchronized traffic lights.

Opponents of the project, however, say they feel they are being dazzled by smoke-and-mirror plans that look good on paper but will ultimately fail.

This is especially true in the Cheviot Hills area south of the studio, where residents of Motor Avenue already have trouble backing out of their driveways because of commuter traffic.

“This is P.R. and not documented analysis,” said activist Laura Lake. “It’s just as important to keep the Westside livable and not have families leave than to keep Fox on the Westside,” Lake said. “We need a balance.’

To achieve that goal, Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the area, said he is negotiating with Fox to trim their request for office space in order to keep down traffic and make the project more palatable to surrounding residential areas.

Fox is one of a number of studios in the midst of expansion to meet what Fox Vice President David Handelman calls “a world revolution in how this business is conducted.” He said studios must meet “an almost insatiable need for what comes out of television.”

Disney Studios in Burbank and Sony Pictures in Culver City are proceeding with even more grand projects of 2.9 million and 2.6 million square feet on smaller parcels. Warner Bros. Hollywood Studios in West Hollywood is also revamping its lot.

Fox has vowed the company would leave the Westside if the city does not approve the expansion--but only as a last resort.

Burbank is wooing the studio for a site where the Lockheed plant now sits. “Their aggressiveness is commendable,” Handelman said. “Our intention is to disappoint them.”

Handelman refused to say how much Fox has invested in getting to this stage of the process, but a source close to the studio said the price tag has been $4 million. “Movies have been made for less,” Handelman said.

Since the expansion plan was unfurled in August, 1990, project opponents have filed two lawsuits, losing both at the Superior Court level. One of them is on appeal.

In addition to neighborhood opposition, the city of Beverly Hills has expressed concerns about encroaching traffic, as has Temple Isiah on Pico Boulevard. Even the independent traffic consultant hired by Fox to help homeowner groups understand the traffic issues has reservations about the impact of the project.

Fox has countered opposition with a public relations program, including taking neighborhood surveys and soliciting thousands of signatures from people who favor the project.

Several Century City condominium associations support the project; several homeowner associations do not. Most have not made a final determination.

When they do, McCann hopes that people keep the big picture in mind. The project is emblematic “of the crisis the city is in,” she said. “The question is, is anyone willing to invest in the city of Los Angeles? The answer from Fox is a resounding yes.”

Fox officials maintain that the decision on the project is being made in a markedly different atmosphere than when it was first proposed.

“Today, any person sensitive to the needs of Southern California will place job needs at a very high level,” said Handelman. “The power issue . . . is jobs and the economy and that’s what this industry brings.”

Yaroslavsky agreed. “There’s been a reality check with the recession,” he said. “This is the part of Los Angeles people thought they could take for granted.”