Builder Seeks Compromise Over Carwash

A developer who wants to replace a popular Studio City carwash and gas station with a mini-mall, setting off a clash with neighbors who want the site declared a cultural monument, said Friday that he will meet with community leaders in hopes of negotiating a compromise.

Builder Ira Smedra will discuss changes to his proposed $15-million, two-story shopping center with representatives of five community groups, a spokesman for his company said. After the private meeting Tuesday afternoon, local residents will gather to discuss Smedra’s offer, neighborhood leaders said.

Smedra’s proposal to demolish the carwash and gas station at Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards has prompted Studio City residents, who oppose construction of the mini-mall, to demand that Los Angeles officials declare the site a cultural landmark.

In addition to honoring the role of the automobile in the development of the San Fernando Valley, such a designation would preserve a unique 1950s-era carwash structure topped by a tower of 55-foot-tall boomerang-shaped steel beams, residents contend.

Polly Ward, president of the Studio City Residents Assn., said Smedra will meet with her and Jo Dell Hays, president of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce; Walter McIntyre, president of Studio City’s Briarcliff Improvement Assn.; Joe Rinella, a representative of a Laurel Terrace neighborhood group; Jim Nagele, a leader of a Carpenter Avenue School parents group, and Jack McGrath, organizer of the cultural landmark campaign.

Afterward, the community leaders will discuss results with residents association members at an 8 p.m. meeting at the Ventura Boulevard office of City Councilman Michael Woo, she said.

Commission Tour

McGrath said Smedra met last week with representatives of Ward’s group but failed to reach a compromise. On Wednesday, members of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission toured the site and announced that they will decide in two weeks whether to recommend that the City Council designate the facility a landmark, which would prevent Smedra from demolishing it for a year.

According to McGrath, Smedra is offering to add public restrooms, extra parking for shopping center employees and a coffee shop to his development plans. The loss of restrooms at the gas station--which dates to 1929--and a neighboring coffee shop are among the neighbors’ objections to Smedra’s plans.

Ira Handelman, a spokesman for Smedra, declined to give details of the offer. “We are meeting to discuss community concerns and ways we can satisfy them,” Handelman said. Smedra hopes that he can address the neighbors’ complaints through changes in the planned mini-mall, he said.