Sex Shop Fight Hurts Parking Plan

A city zoning official agreed with Mission Hills residents Monday and said he will rule against creating a parking lot for a pornographic video store, restaurants and other businesses.

The owner of the building that houses the businesses had bought a house that he proposed to replace with a parking lot.

“I think it will be an intrusion,” said Jack C. Sedwick, associate zoning administrator. “It will bring more people who aren’t normally in the neighborhood into the neighborhood.”

The ruling will not become official until Sedwick completes his report, which he said will take several weeks.

Attorney Barry Katz, representing the building owner, Michael Colella, argued that the parking lot would solve a problem, not create a new one. He said Colella would be willing to limit hours the lot is open, to add a landscaping buffer between the lot and houses and to pledge to keep it graffiti-free.

“He is willing to cooperate with the community in whatever they want,” Katz said.

But residents said problems with customers from the Talk of the Valley Adult Video Arcade, 15452 Devonshire St., are bad enough without inviting them further into the neighborhood with the parking lot, proposed for a corner behind the store at Tuba Street and Langdon Avenue.

“We’ve always had a peaceful street here,” said Jack Atkins, who has lived in the neighborhood for 34 years. “I don’t want to be looking at a parking lot and the kind of elements it’s going to draw in there.”

Petitions signed by more than 70 residents charged that customers from the 24-hour video store make noise at all hours of the night and litter their sidewalks with beer cans and pornographic literature. The petitions also claim residents have observed customers committing lewd acts on the streets and in the alley that separates the business from their homes.

Katz said the lot would serve not only the video store but also two restaurants, a pet supply shop and a nail salon that share the commercial building. Although there is a small parking lot behind the building, customers complain that the lot often is full, he said.

Katz said a planned second floor of offices would add to the congestion.

Shame of Customers

But real estate agent Ron Prechtl, who grew up in the neighborhood and now owns property there, said he believes the real reason for the lot is the shame of video store customers.

“I understand why his customers are complaining,” Prechtl said. “They don’t want to be parked on Devonshire where they’re clearly visible if they’re going into a porn shop.”

Renee Weitzer, land-use aide for Councilman Joel Wachs, said the councilman opposed the parking lot as poor planning, not because of the video store. Weitzer said the store is allowed to remain near a residential area despite the city’s adult bookstore ordinance because it has a long-term lease.

Katz said he and his client will discuss the possibility of an appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals after the ruling becomes official.