Braude to Seek Boulevard Building Halt

Responding to demands by homeowners’ groups for a curtailment of development on Ventura Boulevard, Councilman Marvin Braude said Tuesday night that he will ask the Los Angeles City Council to impose a partial moratorium on construction on the crowded thoroughfare.

Braude told a meeting of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. that he will propose that construction along stretches of the road “where there is overcongestion now” be prohibited until a community plan is instituted to set new standards for development.

He did not list the areas the measure would cover, but said they would include the intersection of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards. Braude said he would take the proposal before the council “in the next several weeks.”

Has Met With Wachs

Braude, who has been talking since December about a possible building ban on Ventura Boulevard, told the Sherman Oaks group that he had met with fellow Councilman Joel Wachs and that Wachs had agreed to support the measure. Braude and Wachs represent Ventura Boulevard from Sherman Oaks to Tarzana.

The gathering of the homeowners group drew more than 100 residents. Early last month, the group began circulating petitions calling for a construction freeze along Ventura Boulevard.

Homeowners’ associations in neighboring Tarzana and Encino also have supported the building moratorium, arguing that city zoning codes allow too much development and threaten to bring traffic on Ventura Boulevard to a standstill.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks group, said residents are concerned that under current zoning Ventura Boulevard will become a tunnel cutting through high-rises.

“Ventura Boulevard is becoming a mess,” Close said Tuesday in introducing Braude. “Residential streets are becomming bypasses.”

‘Regional Center’

The city’s community plan for Sherman Oaks designates Ventura Boulevard, from Sepulveda Boulevard to Columbus Avenue, as a “regional center” and allows for construction of 21-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 welcome redevelopment,” Close said, “but we’re more interested in retail sales-type buildings than in high-rise.” One recent vote suggests that convincing the 15-member City Council that a building moratorium is necessary could be difficult. The City 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.