The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 141

Environmental Goals Spelled Out in New Kind of Master Plan IK' leal Estate vy Another in a series of executive essays by authorities in fields related to real estate. BY JOHN KEWELL Vlci President. Rtoional pun and Mimtur, Commute on Oislgn of th Amtrlean Institute el Architect Some people would like to live in a rustic ranch house on two wooded acres while others would prefer an apartment on the 40th floor with sweeping view and running hot and cold doormen. Overlaid on a wide range of such individual preferences are the many characteristics of a city which all its dwellers desire in common. Few if any cities have achieved them.

Why? Unfortunately, there is no single cause for this failure which, if alleviated, would magically give us the cities we all want. However, failures in planning are one prominent HOMES-INDUSTRY SECTION SUNDAY, APR. 25, 1971 II 'Vt'x i cause. To paraphrase the melodrama of grandma's day at this point: "Don't shoot the planning director that won't do the trick." What is needed is a process more attuned to the way our society actually works. The characteristics we all want have been pretty well known for a long time in general "terms.

In recent years some particularly conscientious efforts were made to spell these out as "goals." However, whenever a master plan was made m. NEW DEPARTMENT STORE Montgomery Ward department store will open Wednesday at Del Amo Fashion Square, Torrance. Ward's Store to Open at Del Amo Center John Kewell NAHB Predicts 23 Increase in Housing Starts BY DICK TURPIN Timet RmI Ettatt Editor A substantial increase 23 in housing starts nationwide this year is anticipated by the National Assn. of Home Builders. The majority of builder members, polled by the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said their local markets have gained enough strength to support major increases in new home and apartment building activity.

The builders revealed they plan to step up production by half again as many units this year as in 1970. Last year's housing starts totaled 1.46 million units. NAHB's sampling indicated the starts this year will reach the 1.8 million unit mark, up 23 from 1970. Twice a year, NAHB conducts the survey to assess the outlook for housing locally and to obtain information about building plans in light of local conditions. Meanwhile, John A.

Stastny, NAHB president, warned that tha Please Turn to Page 6, Col. 1 for a large area such as a whole neighborhood which would take 10 to 20 years to actually build up, it was hoped that the desired characteristics or goals would be achieved by drawing up a graphic plan that would, if followed, produce them all. To this end, master plans have shown a detailed street pattern, "possible buildings" of certain shapes, dimensions and heights and the resulting open spaces and vistas between them, as well as all the other nice things that make up a quality environment. However, the fact that there was a nice open space between two "possible buildings" could seen by anybody looking at the plan. The fact that this open space or a similar open space which would do the same job had to be there Del Amo Fashion Square will mark completion Wednesday of the first unit in a major expansion program, including a $3.75 million Montgomery Ward retail store.

The Ward outlet is the fourth department store in the 68-acre shopping center fronting Hawthorne Blvd. at Carson St. in Torrance. Major stores already open at Del Amo are Bullock's, I. Mag-nin and Desmond's, while Ohrbach's will open a facility in August.

Thirteen other local and national retailers have stores in the center. A two- BY LOU DESSER Times JtH WrlUr level, enclosed mall containing 1.1 million square feet will provide room for 133 more retail tenants upon its completion in mid-August. By that date, when most units are scheduled to be in full operation. Del Amo Fashion Square will represent an investment of $100 million in facilities, improvements and merchandise, according to Jack C. Spencer, project manager and owner's on-site representative for the developer, Carson-Madrona Co.

The firm is a partnership of Great Lakes Properties, Inc. and Guilford Glazer and Associates. (The developers would not disclose the cost of the expansion program. However, construction industry sources estimated the total at approximately $14 million, not including Ward's and Ohrbach's.) Ward's store will anchor the east end of the mall, while the west end will connect with Bullock's. Built four years ago when the existing portion of Fashion Square first opened, Bullock's is the center's largest store.

Please Turn to Page 13, Col. 1 ll II i If 'i 1 The ordinance spells out results to be achieved rather than details on how to get there 350 Dwellings Planned Near Guadalajara for its own sake and ihat of the dwellers of the whole neighborhood, it was assumed, did not require further spelling out. This has proven to be a fallacy. Similarly, anybody could see that a street coming towards the project boundaries from both sides was continuous through the project and the fact that this connection was needed in some form to save the fabric of the city was also assumed to need no further spelling out; again, this has proven to be not so. The master plan for the one-shot construction program, such as some of our major shopping centers, has fared better; where the whole project was built at one time, the result has usually come out looking reasonably like the master plan and the intended quality features were actually achieved.

But in most cases such a construction schedule is not. possible. A university campus or a major redevelopment area is built up over a period of decades and it is mighty tough for the business community to commit itself to specific sized buildings in specific locations 10 years in advance. A large city neighborhood is actually built up as developers come along and developers usually Please Turn to Page 16, Col. 1 John Pastier is ill.

Rancho Contento, a $7.5 million retirement housing project, is a popular, Ameri-c a occupied development First in a new series on current residential and commercial projects in Mexico. built around a nine-hole golf course about 10 miles west of Guadalajara, in Mexico. Fraccionadora San Pablo, S.A., is the development firm headed by Guillermo Brock-mann. More than 60 houses are occupied; eventually 350 are expected to be built. Dwellings at the 125-acre project sell for about $30,000 with either cash terms or a six month maximum term.

American population in the Guadalajara area is 50,000, mostly retired. IN MEXICO Artist's conception of Rancho Contento, a $7.5 million retirement housing project near Guadalajara. rr 11 ll i i i i rimnm i mi i ihiiiiii imiiiiim mim mmn j. ibbijuiiil iihipw umi www 'i111' IL i 'BP $16 MILLION IN CURRENT CONSTRUCTION 1 Pace Quickens at Laguna Niguel i i 4 1 Avco Community Developers, the landlord at Laguna Niguel, Orange County, has $16 million in construction under way in various phases within what the firm calls its "unlimited new town." The 8,000 acres of rolling terrain, covering an area from the sea to the San Diego Freeway, seven miles inland, was sold last October by Cabot, Cabot Forbes, Boston-based firm, owner of the acreage since 1960; The concept of an "unlimited" plan for Laguna Niguel places emphasis on retaining the natural environment of the site by the least possible mutilation of the land and taking into account population density. ACDI considers its property more than just an entity upon which to build; it sees each topographical building area as a future evolvement of a certain life style which must be reflected in the homes, according to Richard Weiser, executive vice president.

Extensive planning to accomplish the best use of the land is being conducted by Chapman, Phillips, Brandt Associates of Irvine, land planners. The vitality and the life style of each area is to be determined by the land use, and how construction will follow, Weiser said, so that such zoning serves as the basis for an unlimited new community. Although population is projected to 70,000 from the current approximation of 5,500, great care is being taken in planning of fewer people to occupy each acre of land along with the least changing of the natural terrain, he said. Laguna Niguel, a via Crown Valley Parkway from the San Diego Freeway, was begun 11 years ago and homes were built by volume and custom builders. It was subsequently developed to include 1,700 homes in 10 communities, three shopping centers, El Niguel Country Club, a private beach club and four recreation clubs, a town center, fire station, cable television, 167-acre county regional park, including a 47-acre lake; a theater, the Orange County South Coast Regional Civic Center, '220-acre industrial park and the Crown Valley Elementary School.

ACDI has other properties where "total concept living" is evident or will become so upon completion. These include: Rancho Bernardo, the community north of San Diego, with 2,700 homes and 6,000 population; a $6.8 million resort hotel, two 18-hole golf courses, two shopping centers, two tennis and swim clubs, community center and a 635-acre industrial park. Village North in northern San Diego County, destined to become a 900-acre residential community, of 10,000. Ground was broken there recently. Please Turn to Page 9, Col.

3 CONDOMINIUM HOMES In The West Nine, between Monarch Bay and The Highlands, at Laguna Niguel..