Council Approves Arleta Mall Expansion

After months of negotiations with property owners, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved expansion of an Arleta neighborhood shopping mall.

The mall, on Laurel Canyon Boulevard between Osborne and Montague streets, houses a discount department store, gas station and tire store. The council approved the addition of a 50,000-square-foot grocery store.

Residents of the area had objected to the expansion, saying it would add to traffic congestion and crime in their already troubled neighborhood. The Planning Commission instituted several restrictions on the development that would prohibit traffic access off residential streets and required landscaping.

But after the property owners protested that the conditions were unrealistic, the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee recommended requirements calling for less stringent landscaping and allowing delivery trucks and other vehicles to enter from side streets, which the City Council approved.