Shopping Center : Group Wants Zoning Rules in Bronze

Most big buildings have engraved cornerstones or fancy bronze plaques that honor their owners and builders.

But a $22-million Encino project could end up with one that pays homage to nearby homeowners.

Residents who live near a proposed 70,000-square-foot shopping center are demanding that it come with a large plaque that lists restrictions that the neighborhood wants imposed on it by the city of Los Angeles.

The bronze plaque would be permanently attached to the front of the new “Encino Pavilion” in the 15900 block of Ventura Boulevard so that it is clearly readable to passers-by, according to a recommendation Wednesday by the Homeowners of Encino group.

Thus, future generations would know that greasy hamburger smoke is prohibited from drifting from the shopping center into the nearby neighborhood--and that deliveries are allowed only between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. by trucks that do not block Ventura Boulevard or Gaviota Avenue.

“That way, 5 years from now, no one is going to forget about this case and decide to put in a fast-food restaurant or something,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of the homeowner group. “We think this would be setting a new era of responsible development along the boulevard.”

City officials say such a plaque would be the first of its kind in Los Angeles.

The plaque proposal is included in a protest filed by Silver’s group with the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals. The homeowners oppose a zoning administrator’s recommendation to approve the project.

As part of its appeal, Silver said his group is asking that a 1,500-seat movie theater complex planned for the shopping center be deleted. He said homeowners believe that the theaters would cause traffic problems and disruptions at night.

If the city allows the rest of the shopping center to be built, Silver’s group wants strict controls, including limits on construction hours and on noise, he said.

It is also demanding a “construction ombudsman” who would field neighborhood gripes day or night.

When the project is finished, “all of the terms and conditions to the development would be permanently engraved on a metal plate 18 by 24 inches that is readily visible from the sidewalk and mounted on the face of the building,” Silver said.

Ernest Skolnick, a representative of developer Jason Heltzer of Santa Monica, was surprised by the plan. He said Heltzer Enterprises will study Silver’s demands before responding at a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing in about a month.

John J. Parker Jr., the associate city zoning administrator who has recommended approval of the project, said the city has the power to require installation of a metal plaque if it chooses, but he added that “it would be highly unusual.”