Sherman Oaks Residents Fight Plan to Expand, Enclose Mall

Claiming that it would turn their peaceful residential neighborhood into “another Westwood,” a group of Sherman Oaks homeowners Monday blasted a plan to expand and enclose the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square mall.

“It’s a blatant encroachment of commercial development on a residential community,” said Jim Young, a member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. and one of about 80 residents who turned out to protest the mall expansion before a city hearing officer.

To the applause of his neighbors, Young said the expansion of the Riverside Drive mall would increase traffic, parking problems, noise, crime and pollution and would exchange a “a beautiful open air mall that blends with the neighborhood . . . for one that dominates it.”

But the mall’s backers argued that the proposed expansion will benefit the community, have little impact on traffic and decrease parking problems caused by the existing mall.

Opened in 1961

The mall, one of the Valley’s first shopping centers when it opened in 1961, is one of only a handful of open-air malls left in the area.

Its owner, City Freeholds (U.S.A.), is seeking a zoning change to expand the mall by 23%, add a second story, cover the mall and add 55 specialty shops and restaurants.

The mall--whose tenants include Broadway, Bullock’s and I. Magnin department stores and 40 smaller specialty shops--has been steadily losing business to enclosed malls, said H. Randall Stoke, a lawyer with Latham & Watkins, legal consultants for the project.

Steve Guttman, director of the mall’s merchants association, said the mall has deteriorated in the past 20 years and is no longer competitive or attractive to customers.

At Fashion Square, unlike closed malls, shoppers tend to shop in one of the department stores, then leave without visiting any other stores, Guttman said. Business drops during cold or rainy weather.

Working women who are unable to shop during the day are afraid to come to the mall at night, he said. An unenclosed mall makes it easier for criminals to flee after grabbing a purse or stealing store merchandise, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. George Mitchell, who is head of mall security during his off hours.

The proposed expansion would add about 170,000 square feet to the mall’s existing 727,000 square feet, at a cost of about $15 million, said W. David Sauers, executive vice president of City Freeholds. It would feature attractive landscaping and “a glass roof open to the sky to maintain an open-air feeling,” said William F. Burch, the architect preparing the design for the proposed expansion.

The City Council would have to approve the rezoning request, and a representative of City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky--in whose district the mall is located--said the councilman opposes the project because of problems caused by shoppers and mall employees who park on residential streets.

Yaroslavsky’s deputy, Ginny Kruger, said that if the mall expansion is approved, the mall should be required to provide free on-site parking for employees and the public and should not be permitted to have arcades, movie theaters or to sell wine, beer or liquor.

Stoke said the new mall would feature 3,931 parking places--a 6% increase--and a parking lot for employees. Doors that provide pedestrian access to the mall from the street would be removed, discouraging people from parking in the surrounding community, Stoke said.

As for traffic, Stoke cited a study by a consultant that said the expansion would not have a significant impact on traffic--a statement that was ridiculed by residents.

Philip Y. Lyou, hearing examiner for the Department of City Planning, said he would submit a recommendation within a month to the City Planning Commission, which in turn will make a recommendation to the City Council.