Valley Village Issue : Shuffle of Districts Snares Bill

The first sign of the difficulty facing North Hollywood residents because the community has been split up among as many as five City Council districts surfaced during Wednesday’s council meeting.

The council delayed final approval of an ordinance severely restricting building in the Valley Village area of North Hollywood because Councilman John Ferraro, who gained part of the area under recent redistricting, said he was unfamiliar with the issue and wanted to study it further. A vote was put off until Oct. 14.

The council last week tentatively approved the ordinance on a 10-2 vote. The measure was introduced by Councilman Joel Wachs in March, when the area was entirely in his district. Wachs was responding to complaints by homeowners of blocked views, parking problems and traffic congestion from high-rise development in the predominantly single-family, residential neighborhood.

Under the redistricting, Valley Village--a three-square-mile area bounded by Burbank Boulevard on the north, the Hollywood Freeway on the east, the Ventura Freeway on the south and the Tujunga Wash on the west--is split among Wachs, Ferraro and Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. Yaroslavsky and Wachs voted for the measure last week. Ferraro was absent.

Davee Frankel, a representative of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. who was at Wednesday’s meeting, said after the delay that she was “very concerned,” but hopeful of winning Ferraro’s support.

‘Behoove Him to Act’

“As soon as he meets the community and finds out we’re all in favor, it would behoove him to act in his best interests,” she said.

“I wanted to see what it’s all about,” Ferraro said. He said some people told him the moratorium area is too large, “and I want to find out so I can make an intelligent judgment on it,”

Wachs said he supports the delay. He said he believes he has enough votes to gain approval of the moratorium, regardless of what Ferraro decides. But he did not push for a final vote Wednesday because not all his supporters on the council were present.

The measure would restrict construction to the lowest of the range of densities allowed under existing zoning and would limit the square footage of commercial development to 1 1/2 times the lot size.

The ordinance would also set a two-story limit on new buildings in the area, which now includes some five-story apartments.