Encino Gains Allies in Fight on Building Along Ventura

Community groups in Sherman Oaks and Tarzana have joined an Encino-based effort to persuade the Los Angeles City Council to freeze construction along Ventura Boulevard until zoning can be changed to curtail future development there.

City Councilmen Marvin Braude and Joel Wachs, who represent the stretch of Ventura Boulevard from Sherman Oaks to Tarzana, are studying a proposal for a tri-community building moratorium, the councilmen’s aides said at a meeting Tuesday night in Sherman Oaks.

The aides said, however, that, even if the two councilmen supported such a measure, gaining the approval of a majority of the 15-member council would be extremely difficult, with the building industry likely to wage a tough and expensive fight. The council last fall defeated an attempt by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky to freeze construction on congested Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood until traffic improvements could be made.

Homeowners’ Opposition

In all three San Fernando Valley communities, homeowners’ groups have argued that current city zoning codes allow too much development, threatening to bring traffic on Ventura Boulevard to a standstill. Because it typically takes two to five years to revise community plans that set guidelines for construction, the groups are pressing for an immediate moratorium to prevent approval of projects during the interim.

“Unless we get involved and start some kind of progress, the problems you see in Encino are just the start of what could happen in Sherman Oaks,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., which met Tuesday night to discuss Ventura Boulevard problems.

The Sherman Oaks group Wednesday began circulating petitions calling for a moratorium, with a goal of collecting 3,000 signatures, said Fred Kramer, chairman of the association’s Ventura Boulevard Committee.

2nd Petition Campaign

A similar petition campaign also is under way in Encino, under the direction of Homeowners of Encino. Construction along Ventura in Encino is restricted to three-story and six-story buildings, depending on the location. But the volunteer watchdog group has long argued that the community is overbuilt and that traffic generated by additional six-story structures would choke the boulevard.

In addition, the Tarzana Property Owners Assn. recently began lobbying Braude to halt construction on a 12-acre “superblock” bounded by Ventura, Burbank and Reseda boulevards and Etiwanda Avenue, said Louise Frankel, a member of the group’s board of directors.

Several three-story and six-story medical buildings, office buildings and parking structures are planned in the area adjacent to the Medical Center of Tarzana, Frankel said.

‘Can’t Blow Them Up’

“The city has to understand that the densities that are allowed now won’t work,” Frankel said Wednesday. “We’re saying, ‘Stop now and rethink, before the buildings go in.’ You can’t blow them up once they’re in there.”

The groups’ complaints about Ventura Boulevard were reflected in a recent survey conducted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Initial results, released at the Tuesday night meeting, showed that 71% of the respondents feel that traffic along Ventura is poor or terrible, Kramer reported. Parking was said to be poor or terrible by 69%. Proposals to build additional high-rise office buildings drew the most critical response, with 93% labeling them terrible.

Asked their preferences for development, 72% of the respondents responded that restaurants were good or excellent, with an equal percentage favoring shopping.

Large Turnout

Other evidence that the future of Ventura Boulevard is an emotional issue for the adjoining communities was provided at the Tuesday meeting. About 100 residents filled a bank meeting room, one of the largest turnouts for the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Kramer said that, if Sherman Oaks residents are unhappy with the look of the boulevard today, the future holds only more bad news.

He noted that the community plan for Sherman Oaks designates Ventura Boulevard, from Sepulveda Boulevard to Columbus Avenue, as a “regional center” and allows for construction of 20-story buildings and a major bus transportation center.

The intersection of Van Nuys and Ventura boulevards is zoned for a neighborhood center of six-story office buildings and garages. Other stretches of the boulevard, now dominated by single-story retail stores, are zoned to allow three-story and six-story buildings.

“We have a pretty dismal view of what’s in store for us three to five years down the road,” Kramer said. “The Thrifty Drug Store, with its very large parking lot, could easily be removed and replaced by a 21-story high-rise.

“We need persistent, continued, strong action to prevent the increased density.”