Planners Back Sherman Oaks Building Limit

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission on Thursday approved a temporary ban on building large apartment structures in one section of Sherman Oaks but declined to cut apartment density in another part of the community.

The split decision occurred on two moratorium ordinances proposed by City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who said that, because of widespread apartment construction, the two sections of Sherman Oaks are experiencing traffic and parking congestion and are losing their single-family atmosphere.

The approved ordinance, which now goes to City Council for final action, applies to land south of Ventura Boulevard and bounded by the San Diego Freeway, Valley Vista Boulevard and Hazeltine Avenue.

The other measure, which staff planners were told to bring back for reconsideration in four or five weeks, would restrict apartment construction in an area north of Ventura Boulevard and bounded by the San Diego Freeway, Magnolia Boulevard and Whitsett Avenue.

The moratoriums, both of which would last one year, are aimed at giving planners time to complete work on Yaroslavsky-requested changes in zoning laws that would permanently reduce the size and placement of apartment buildings in the two areas.

Restrictions on Apartment Developments

The moratorium that would apply south of Ventura Boulevard would cut in half the number of units that could be built on land zoned for apartments.

Yaroslavsky’s ordinance for the area north of the boulevard would limit the height of apartments based on their distance from single-family homes.

Virginia Krueger, Yaroslavsky’s planning deputy, expressed confidence that she could allay planning commissioners’ fears that the height-limit formula, which has not been used before in the city, will work efficiently.

Owners who hope to build large apartment buildings turned out in force to oppose both ordinances. They argued that office buildings, not apartments, are the chief cause of crowded streets in the area.

One owner, Kamran Hekmat, complained that he had bought property in the area “for future retirement, and I don’t like to see its value diminished.”

Fred Kramer, representing the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., which asked Yaroslavsky for the ordinances, said the community is “losing its neighborhoods because construction is being based on obsolete zoning laws.”