The owners of the Woodland Hills Country Club at 21150 Dumetz Road are seeking approvals to build 398 homes on 20 of the club’s 93 acres.
Developer and owner Arrimus Capital is proposing to construct a mix of 175 single-family homes, 126 apartments and 97 affordable housing units (32 for seniors and 65 for families). Parking for 835 vehicles would also be provided.
The single family homes are planned for up to three stories, with the apartment buildings up to four stories.
No plans have been announced for the remaining acreage, but the golf course would not continue to be operational, though the 28,000-square-foot clubhouse might be retained for a community center.
The original country club with a nine-hole golf course was founded by Woodland Hills’ first developer, Victor Girard in 1925 and named the Girard Country Club. Designed by William “Billy” Bell, Sr., another nine-holes were added in 1926 at a reported cost of $1,250,000 for the entire course.
On opening day it had 700 members.
For most of its years it was member-owned and the membership appointed their own General Manager who ran the club. The decision to sell was due to increasing operational costs, and the general membership did not want to develop the property themselves.
A number of bidders, including some major companies, looked at the property, but they did not offer any benefit for members to sell.
Two club members, Phil Wilson and Ryan Ogulnick, an Orange County developer, purchased the club in 2020 for reportedly close to $15 million, ran the club, hired golf management company Troon Prive´ and also gave members benefits like buy-outs.
After their purchase they attempted to get a change of use permit from Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who denied it based on the enormous change a development would bring to the surrounding community.
Times have changed, as have zoning rules, and bills like SB79, which overrides local zoning restrictions to allow higher residential density, have changed the development landscape.
Arrimus Capital is a Southern California-based real estate private equity firm that focuses on residential entitlements, value-add multifamily, student housing, opportunistic NNN, build-to-rent, and residential development.
A representative from Arrimus did reach out to Third District City Council candidate Tim Gaspar to discuss the proposal.
Gaspar told Valley News Group, “There has been talk on development for years – that’s not a surprise. But to residents of the neighborhood this proposal came out of nowhere. They don’t feel like they’ve had an opportunity to give input. What’s most important is that there is communication between residents and the developers before anything happens. Obviously we need housing. I’m not anti-development. This has a significant impact on the community so they need to listen to the community on what their concerns are.”
Another City Council candidate, Barri Worth Girvan, said, “I’m hearing from people on all sides of this issue and I am approaching this project as I approach everything in the community. I’m doing a deep dive, and making sure I hear from all stakeholders. My priority is to bring everyone to the table with due diligence.”
Residents have expressed real concerns about construction traffic and timing – as the golf course needs completely graded due to all the different levels. Utilities need to be brought in and placed underground per new city regulations. There is also the problem of 800-plus vehicles on older roads surrounding the club.
Councilman Bob Blumenfield weighed in on the current version of the development proposal. “We have heard a significant amount of concern from community members and we think that it does meet the need for a full CEQA review, considering it’s in a Very High Fire Severity Zone, Hillside area, Special Grading Area among other environmentally sensitive categories.
Our team has made it very clear to the developer that they should engage with neighbors and the surrounding community, regardless of potential exemptions due to state legislation. This is a privately-owned, large scale golf course that is adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains and building anything here should be intensely vetted by community stakeholders.”
One Woodland Hills resident said that other similar clubs that faced financial difficulties went a different route than development; citing Knollwood Country Club, which was purchased by the County of Los Angeles and now run as a public course.
As of presstime the new proposal is before the Los Angeles City Planning Department.
