Topanga : Carlson Will Defend Retail-Office Project

Real estate investor Steve Carlson, who hopes to build a retail center in Topanga Canyon, will defend his project tonight before skeptics who say the plan is a bad idea.

Carlson will meet with Friends of Topanga, a loose-knit group formed recently to oppose the project. The group claims the project is too big for Topanga and that it will spoil the canyon’s rustic charm.

Carlson, who has lived in the canyon for almost 10 years, wants to build a two-building office and retail center on a lot he owns at 100 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd. The project, he says, would lure needed services such as a bank, bring in more tourist dollars and rid the community of an eyesore--a vacant lot littered with junk.

And he has taken pains, he says, to ensure that the development would not clash with Topanga’s rustic character. He says that one of the buildings, for example, is designed to resemble Topanga’s original general store, which was torn down long ago.

But opponents fear that the project would increase noise and traffic, cause flooding and disturb what some believe is the site of an ancient Indian village.

The project won approval in concept from the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on April 20, according to California Coastal Commission records.

The Coastal Commission was to have voted on the matter Sept. 15, but continued it until Oct. 12 at the behest of another Topanga Canyon group, the Topanga Assn. for a Scenic Community. The group said few people in the canyon knew about the project and more time was needed to educate them.

On Oct. 12, the Coastal Commission approved the project with special conditions, including that Caltrans review the project and that potential drainage problems be addressed. By law, according to the commission, if any sacred objects are found during construction, work must stop.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at Topanga Community House, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.