Panel OKs Redevelopment Study of Northridge Zone : Dissenting Planning Commissioner Assails ‘Crazy, Terrifying’ Proposal for 40-Acre Site

The Los Angeles Planning Commission on Thursday approved a study of whether a run-down area in Northridge qualifies as a redevelopment zone, but two commissioners expressed grave doubts, one of them calling the proposal crazy and terrifying.

Commission President William G. Luddy emphasized that the 3-1 vote merely authorized a study and was not “an action that finalizes anything.”

“Look but don’t touch,” Luddy told the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which will study the 40-acre area north of Parthenia Street and east of Vanalden Avenue.

City Councilman Hal Bernson supports redevelopment of the area but is being strongly opposed by landowners and business tenants there. They differ with Bernson over whether the area is blighted, a requirement to qualify as a redevelopment zone under state law.

Luddy and Commissioner Suzette Neiman, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said they did not think the area should become a redevelopment zone, partly because half of it is city property and could be cleaned up by the city agencies that use it.

“Frankly, I don’t see it,” Luddy said of redevelopment. “I don’t see anything that tells me that this needs to be redone or that the city . . . can’t take care of its part.”

Neiman said: “I think it’s crazy. It terrifies me. There are so many other places that need help.”

‘Your Property Looks Terrible’

Addressing an official of the Department of Water and Power, which maintains a storage yard in the area, Neiman said: “Your property looks terrible. Your property is blighted.”

It was the second time in a week that the redevelopment proposal faced harsh skepticism. On Monday, members of the City Council’s Community Redevelopment and Housing Committee questioned why the plan was moving so quickly through the redevelopment process.

The study proposal first came before the Planning Commission last month. But Luddy asked the city attorney’s office to review it because of what he called “serious legal questions” raised by opponents, a group called the Parthenia Property Owners and Tenants Assn. On Thursday the city attorney’s office told the commission the proposal was proceeding according to law.

Redevelopment is a tool cities sometimes use to improve decaying urban areas. A redevelopment agency can sell bonds to finance the upgrading of the area. The land’s value increases and the resulting rise in tax revenue is used to pay off the agency’s bonds.

If the study approved Thursday finds that a redevelopment project is necessary and feasible, a final proposal could go before the Planning Commission and the City Council next year.

Bernson has said he wants to see redevelopment used to transform the area into a business park.