Bill Linking Warner Future to Traffic Flow Goes to Mayor

An ordinance approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday would require developers of buildings in bustling Warner Center to reduce the automobile traffic their projects add to streets.

Under the ordinance, sent on a 12-0 vote to Mayor Tom Bradley for his expected approval, builders could be forced to implement such things as ride-sharing and staggered work hours, increase parking and pay for street widenings, shuttle buses and other traffic improvements.

Builders would be required to submit their plans to the city Department of Transportation for review. The department would have the authority, subject to appeal to the City Council, to require developers to implement traffic-easing measures.

The ordinance also calls for builders to pay an unspecified fee, which would finance street widenings, shuttle buses and other traffic improvements at Warner Center. The fee, which would vary based on how much traffic a project generates, would be determined by a traffic plan for Warner Center, expected to be completed in about a year.

Gridlock Foreseen

Developers are not now required to provide traffic improvements.

Proposed by Councilwoman Joy Picus, whose district includes Warner Center, the ordinance is patterned after measures in effect on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley and in the Los Angeles International Airport and Westwood areas.

According to a report presented to the council by the city Planning Department, Warner Center is expected to double in size in the next 10 to 20 years. There will be gridlock at a number of key intersections without traffic improvements, the report says.

The ordinance, the report says, provides “a mechanism for reducing the number of trips, particularly at peak hours, generated by new development and provides a means of financing transportation improvements to increase the capacity of the transportation facilities serving Warner Center in a manner that would coincide with new development.”

The measure applies to the area roughly bounded by Topanga Canyon Boulevard on the west, Vanowen Street on the north, De Soto Avenue on the east and the Ventura Freeway on the south. It allows developers to seek “hardship” exemptions from the City Council.

A spokesman for the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization expressed support of the ordinance.