A group of Woodland Hills homeowners wants to halt construction on a new In-N-Out in their neighborhood, saying more research is needed on how it will affect their community.
In a petition to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week, the homeowners association asked for the project to be halted until an environmental impact study could be completed.
The proposal, which recently received city approvals, calls for construction of a 40,000 square foot In-N-Out restaurant and parking lot on Ventura Blvd near Fallbrook Ave. In October, the Woodland Hills City Council voted to exempt the project from the California Environmental Quality Act, allowing it to bypass a full environmental review process. Exemptions are generally granted to projects that aren’t expected to have substantial environmental impacts.
However in their petition, the association argues that the proposed construction does not qualify for an exemption, and could in fact have major impacts on air, noise and water quality. And most especially, traffic.
The association claims that the amount of new traffic In-N-Out’s proposal estimates will be generated by the new restaurant could be a fraction of the real number. Studies from In-N-Outs in Monrovia, Santa Rosa and San Juan Capistrano, show that the Woodland Hills development could generate multiple times the amount of traffic cited in the proposal’s estimates, according to the petition. The group specifically points to concerns about the planned drive-thru queuing area, which would be located close to residential buildings.
“The record lacks substantial evidence that the project would not result in significant traffic impacts,” the petition says.
The group also points to the proposed site’s proximity to multi-family housing, and the fact that it sits within the Canoga Park-Winnetka-Woodland Hills-West Hills Community Plan. The land use plan, adopted by the city council in 1999, aims to balance commercial interests with neighborhood preservation. Under this framework, new developments must consider their impact on existing residential areas while supporting economic growth.
The petition calls for the court to defer city approval of the project until an environmental impact study is conducted. An environmental impact study is a complex report that can run thousands of pages, analyzing a proposed project’s impact on the area’s traffic, noise, water and air, among other factors.
A response from the City Attorney’s Office is typically expected within 30 days.
Founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, In-N-Out has faced similar challenges in other California communities, including Rancho Mirage in 2020 and the Northern California town of Campbell in 2016. In both cases, the In-N-Outs were ultimately built.
In-N-Out, which currently has 400 locations, has been expanding rapidly in the last few years, announcing plans to open in New Mexico, Tennessee and Washington. Plans for a new flagship Las Vegas restaurant, the biggest yet at 10,500 feet, were announced this week.
