Planners Approve Reduced Zoning for Van Nuys, North Sherman Oaks

The Los Angeles Planning Commission approved zoning revisions Thursday to the Van Nuys and North Sherman Oaks community plan that restrict the height of most buildings to three stories and could curb skyrocketing population increases.

Van Nuys homeowner representatives cautiously praised the changes, because existing zoning laws permit apartment and condominium construction that could lead to a 96% population increase in the area, from 116,958 people to 229,000. Under the new zoning, apartments could house up to 153,028 people, a 31% population increase.

“I recognize that city planners went to a great deal of effort, and we favor the downzoning of the area,” said Adriana Noonan of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. “But I just wonder if it will make a difference in the long run.”

The hundreds of zone changes, which were unanimously approved by the five-member commission, complete a 1979 court-mandated revision aimed at making zoning designations consistent with community plans citywide.

The 12 1/2-square-mile Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks plan was the last of 35 Los Angeles planning areas to undergo revision. The new blueprint for community development, which must be approved by the City Council, ended months of study and public hearings typical of struggles that have gone on citywide between homeowners and developers.

Testimony from homeowners focused on preserving single-family neighborhoods and limiting development of apartments, mini-malls and high-rise buildings. Owners of properties zoned for apartments and commercial and industrial uses opposed building limits that could reduce the value of their investments.

For years, discrepancies between the community plans and zoning laws have led to battles large and small between homeowners and developers. Homeowners usually agreed with community plans, which are drafted with resident input and outline housing, commercial, industrial and parkland portions of their neighborhoods. Zoning designations, which in most cases permit more intensive building, are usually favored by developers.

In many ways, the Van Nuys and North Sherman Oaks community plan was one of the most complicated plans because of the vast changes that have occurred in the area in this decade.

Generous zoning designations led to the construction of 5,666 apartment and condominium units between 1980 and 1986, the highest number of any planning district in the city.

The housing construction boosted the population to 116,958 by 1986, the last year for which figures are available. If the old zoning had been left unchanged, small houses could have continued to be razed and replaced with apartment complexes to house a population of 229,000, planning reports stated.

The so-called downzoning of residential areas was designed to preserve the remaining neighborhoods of single-family homes. The new, more restrictive zoning will permit construction along thoroughfares of smaller complexes that will allow a smaller rise in the population, according to city planning reports.

Other changes in the revised plan would limit building heights along most of Van Nuys and Sepulveda boulevards to three stories or 45 feet. Taller buildings up to six stories would be permitted along Van Nuys Boulevard near the government center.

Existing zoning regulations permit six-story buildings along Van Nuys and Sepulveda boulevards, and in certain sections heights are unlimited.