Builder Warns Homeowners Not to Interfere With Project

A Studio City developer has warned homeowners not to interfere with his plans for a new shopping center unless they are willing to risk seeing it scaled down in quality--or turned into a motel.

Builder Herbert M. Piken said he hopes to build a sophisticated three-story retail complex on a 2.3-acre Ventura Boulevard parcel that until two months ago was the site of the landmark Tail O’ the Cock restaurant.

But he told a hostile crowd at a Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. meeting Tuesday night that he has alternate plans for the property if speedy construction of the $14-million retail center is blocked.

Residents of Studio City and adjoining Sherman Oaks have vigorously protested the project since Piken unveiled plans for the modernistic, marble and chrome-accented shopping plaza two months ago.

Current commercial zoning for site would allow Piken to build the 30-store, 70,000-square-foot center and an underground parking lot. But he needs city permission to build the structure across a public alley that crosses the property.

Homeowners claim the project will add to parking and traffic congestion near the busy intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue and intrude on a quiet, 45-year-old residential neighborhood located a block away.

They have protested the alley shutdown and demanded that Los Angeles city officials require Piken to submit an environmental impact report as part of his request on the alley.

It could take up to a year for Piken to prepare such a report and get it reviewed by various city departments and the public, according to officials.

That’s too long, Piken told the crowd gathered Tuesday at the Dixie Canyon Elementary School in Sherman Oaks.

“I’m not rich enough to carry $5 million for a year,” he said, referring to money he said he has borrowed to finance the $4-million land acquisition and various design costs.

“If you win your fight and cause us to do something not required under our zoning, we’ll have to find something else to do with the property,” Piken said. “We have a couple of alternatives.”

His fallback positions are to build either a three-story shopping center of a lower quality than the one planned or a three-story motel, he said.

That sparked an outcry from the crowd of more than 225.

“Don’t threaten us!” yelled one homeowner. “Let’s call his bluff,” shouted another.

Piken said he hopes to reach a compromise with homeowners, however. He pledged to offer free, validated parking at the center’s proposed 340-space lot and said he is willing to take other steps to prevent congestion on neighboring streets.

He introduced a traffic consultant, Donald Frischer, who told the crowd that the project should have no adverse effect on area traffic.

The development’s opponents scoffed at that, however.

Several said they may picket Studio City-area City Councilman Michael Woo’s office to dramatize their unhappiness that Woo has not stepped in to personally order an environmental impact report. Others said they were angry that no one from Woo’s staff attended Tuesday’s meeting.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty, a Studio City resident, said he has found it easier to telephone the governor than Woo. “I think we ought to get rid of him,” Yorty told his neighbors.

Scheduling Conflict

On Wednesday, an aide to Woo blamed scheduling conflicts for missing the meeting.

“We’re very much aware of what’s going on in the community,” said Eric Roth, Woo’s deputy for Studio City. “If it wasn’t for our efforts, that alley would have been vacated already and he would be building.”

Roth said the city will not decide whether to require an environmental impact report for the project until Piken files his development proposal with officials.