Ventura Blvd. Landowners May Share Improvement Costs

Mayor Tom Bradley endorsed a plan Wednesday to require existing property owners to pay a share of the $200-million-plus traffic improvements needed to accommodate a 44% increase in commercial development along Ventura Boulevard, the San Fernando Valley’s “Main Street.”

Bradley’s support for imposing fees on all Ventura Boulevard commercial properties--not just on new commercial developments--came as his Planning Commission appointees today prepare to review the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan.

Councilman Marvin Braude’s chief deputy said the mayor’s stance is not surprising. A Bradley aide pushed Planning Department staff to reverse themselves and issue the report released earlier this week urging the revised fee system, said Cindy Miscikowski, Braude’s aide.

The Planning Department had recommended that the cost of redoing the boulevard to accommodate new commercial development over the next 20 years be paid by developers of new projects.

But in a report issued Tuesday, the department proposed to reduce the average fees paid by new developers by 38%, from $5,800 to $3,600 for each new trip generated by their projects. The reduction was accomplished by proposing to shift part of the cost--$42 million--onto existing property owners.

City planners said the shift was justified in part because some traffic problems Ventura Boulevard will face will be due to general growth in the Valley not linked to new projects along the street.

The fee system is critical to the plan, which seeks to limit new commercial development so it produces fewer than 30,000 additional auto trips per afternoon peak hour--or 43% more than now occur.

But more than $200 million of improvements, including street-widening and installing a computerized signal system, are needed if the new growth is not to swamp the boulevard, planners have said.