L.A. Council Votes to Keep Boulevard Development Ban

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday extended for one year a moratorium on high-rise construction along the length of congested Ventura Boulevard until a solution to traffic problems can be found.

The 12-0 vote sent the measure to Mayor Tom Bradley for his expected approval.

Councilman Marvin Braude, who proposed the moratorium, said the extension was needed to give the city’s consultants time to prepare a new development plan for the boulevard. The moratorium was to expire Tuesday.

The moratorium limits development to buildings of no more than three stories and with a square footage no more than 1 1/2 times the size of the lot. Zoning now allows three square feet of development for every square foot of land. The measure also provides stiffer parking requirements for development.

When the moratorium was adopted in October, 1985, council members said they would extend it if more time were needed to come up with a traffic and development plan for the boulevard.

The council is scheduled to act in a few weeks on a recommendation by Planning Director Kenneth C. Topping and Donald R. Howery, general manager of the city Department of Transportation, to hire the consulting firms of Barton-Aschman Associates Inc. and Envicom Corp. to prepare the development plan for $624,503.

The plan is supposed to tie development to traffic improvements on the boulevard.