Citizen Committee Finally Agrees on Traffic Plan for Ventura Boulevard

After more than 2 1/2 years of analysis and arguments, a 20-member citizens committee has finally agreed on a plan aimed at preventing gridlock on Ventura Boulevard, the San Fernando Valley’s 17-mile-long “main street.”

The advisory panel, composed of developers, businessmen and homeowners, reached a consensus late Wednesday after deciding on the amounts of special fees that future developers could be assessed for improvements meant to keep traffic flowing in the 21st Century along the busy boulevard.

Also, height limits of two to three stories were proposed for most of the boulevard.

Homeowners and businessmen on the committee had disagreed in the past on the key issues of how much developers should be required to pay and how the money should be spent. Business leaders formed a majority on the committee; homeowners a minority.

The committee voted to assess developers an average of $2,863 per average daily vehicular trip it is calculated their projects will generate. Those funds, panel members said, will raise more than $90 million to pay for sophisticated traffic signals, widened lanes, parking structures and other improvements at 29 major intersections between Studio City and Woodland Hills.

‘A Good Plan’

“I’m really happy with the way this plan turned out,” said Nick Brestoff, a Woodland Hills lawyer who was one of the committee majority. “This is a good plan to raise and spend money on the boulevard. It has all the ingredients to be successful.”

But homeowners on the panel sounded less enthusiastic. “I think the plan is a good plan, but there are some areas I take exception to,” said Fred Kramer of Sherman Oaks. He declined to elaborate.

The homeowner and business factions of the panel have argued since the committee began its work in 1987.

Kramer and other representatives from homeowner groups said the Los Angeles City Council should consider the plan and vote on it before more major development takes place.

“Enough is enough,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. “They’ve been at it for 2 1/2 years, and we just wanted to get it out of committee before there were any more buildings constructed.”

Los Angeles city planners said the proposal will be considered at a public workshop Sept. 28 at a location to be determined, and then will be sent to the Planning Commission. The City Council is scheduled to consider the plan in November.

50% Growth

Committee members have said the boulevard can handle another 8.6 million square feet of commercial development and more than 31,000 additional car trips a day by the year 2010--increases of close to 50%--if traffic signals are upgraded, key intersections widened and other improvements instituted.

There is about 19 million square feet of commercial development on the boulevard now, mostly in Encino and Sherman Oaks. Motorists make about 70,000 trips a day on the boulevard.

Under the plan, the development fee would be $4,304 per daily average trip for Studio City; $3,307 for Sherman Oaks and Encino; $2,194 for Woodland Hills and $2,158 for Tarzana.

Business leaders originally pushed for a $2,000 fee per trip, while homeowners said $5,000 per trip was needed.

Gordon Murley, a homeowner representative from Woodland Hills, said he did not think that the compromise fee was high enough. “It’s not enough to do what must be done . . . ,” he said.