Calls for Rules Promoting ‘Pedestrian Atmosphere’ : Woo Seeks Hiatus in Mini-Mall Construction

Complaining that mini-malls are ugly and “multiplying like weeds” in places like Studio City, City Councilman Michael Woo called Tuesday for a two-year ban on building new corner shopping plazas in his district so Los Angeles officials can adopt tough new design rules.

Woo said he wants the city to require better parking and landscaping and other features that will encourage “more of a pedestrian atmosphere” at mini-malls.

He asked council members to enact a moratorium on mall construction in the 13th District, which includes southeastern Sherman Oaks, southwestern Studio City and stretches through the Hollywood Hills to Silver Lake.

The corner shopping plazas are “a blight--a cheap, quick way to make money,” Woo said as he announced his plan to reporters at a mini-mall in Hollywood. “This will call a halt to one of the worst problems in terms of the appearance of the city.”

Woo said he will push for what he called a “pedestrian overlay zone” for his district so that new shopping areas will be geared to foot traffic instead of cars. Such zoning would require mini-malls to be built so that buildings are next to the street and parking is tucked out of sight behind the shops and stores, he said.

“It’s not necessary for the parking to be in the front to have a successful pedestrian-oriented development,” Woo said, explaining that he has received complaints about the appearance of parking lots that face the street.

The moratorium proposal, which will undergo review by a council committee before the full council considers it, drew a quick reaction Tuesday from the biggest mini-mall company in California.

“It smacks to me of something less than free enterprise and the American spirit,” said Marvin Levine, vice president of La Mancha Development. “It won’t lend itself to convenience shopping. Parking in the back could create a tremendous crime and burglary problem for shoppers and residents in the area.”

Levine, whose company has built 347 mini-malls since 1972, when it converted an abandoned Atlantic Richfield gas station in Panorama City into a strip of shops, said today’s small plazas are well designed. Most cost about $1 million and have about six stores and 15 parking stalls, Levine said.

“Retailers don’t want to invest their capital in an ugly store. They all want their own image, as does Mr. Woo,” Levine said.

Sherman Oaks shopper Alice Ligart agreed Tuesday afternoon as she dropped a load of laundry off at a dry cleaners in a Ventura Boulevard mini-mall.

“Mini-malls are not all Frank Lloyd Wright beauties, but I don’t think they’re eyesores,” Ligart said, referring to the famous architect. “The only problem they have is there are too many of them.”

Philip Bender, assistant manager of a 7-Eleven convenience market in the mall, said Woo’s proposal for parking behind stores would be inconvenient for shopkeepers and customers alike.

“I don’t think we’d want entrances at two places, one in the front and one in the back,” Bender said. “If people don’t see a parking place as they drive past, they might just keep driving by and not stop to shop.”

Although Woo’s moratorium proposal would cover only his district, a spokeswoman for West Valley Councilwoman Joy Picus said Picus will consider the idea for the Canoga Park and Woodland Hills area, where dozens of mini-malls have popped up in recent years.

“It really is a citywide problem,” said Picus spokeswoman Susan Pasternak.