CENTURY CITY : Fox Studio Agrees to Alter Plans for Expansion

Fox Studio has agreed to make modest changes to its proposed $200-million expansion in order to win the support of Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky on the eve of a crucial City Council committee vote on the project.

As part of a compromise announced by Yaroslavsky and studio officials last week, Fox will trim up to 150,000 square feet of office space from the 771,000 square feet of office and production facilities it had wanted to build at the venerable 53-acre Century City studio.

Additionally, the studio has dropped a demand that it be allowed to build a third phase of the project at its own discretion without the need of city environmental reviews. Under the terms of the arrangement, Fox would also pay $5 million for road and street improvements in the Century City area and an additional $500,000 for speed bumps and other traffic improvements in residential neighborhoods.

“We think, tough as it is--and it is tough--we will be able to proceed,” Fox Vice President David Handelman said, referring to the compromise worked out with Yaroslavsky.

Yaroslavsky, who represents the area, is widely viewed as holding the key to swift approval of the project, which has been subjected to public scrutiny for more than three years and which the councilman has helped to stall for several weeks.